China Entertainment: The happiness of being a director is as simple as that

Chapter 118 Interested in the Trilogy

In order to increase the publicity effect of "Happy Death Day", Summit immediately announced this latest plan.

After the cost calculation, it was 450 million US dollars, and the director was still Lu Pingan.

The North American film industry, movie fans, and media expressed their anticipation after hearing the news.

After the Oscar ebb, Lu Pingan's reputation in Laomei has dropped a lot, but because of the movie "Chain Saw", his popularity is still good, especially among horror movie fans.

But what everyone expects more is when Lu Pingan will make "Chain Saw 2", but they don't want this time he didn't make a series, but changed to another film.

Fans and the media felt slightly regretful, but also expressed their understanding.

After all, this is normal practice in Hollywood.

If a work sells well, it is not necessarily necessary to rush to release a sequel, but to try a new theme first to see if it can still be successful.

If not, a popular sequel is good insurance.

This is especially true for non-Native American filmmakers.

Cheng Long is like this. After the explosion of "Rush Hour 98" in 1, he took advantage of this shareholder wind to shoot a new work "Western Dragon" in Hollywood, but the box office was not satisfactory, so he started filming "Rush Hour 00" in 2. After its release in 01, it succeeded again.

The reason why Lu Pingan is not shooting "Chain Saw 2" for the time being is that most people think so.

It’s just that many people are curious, since your first film has been a success, why is the cost of this "Happy Death Day" only 450 million US dollars?
Many film and television companies felt that it might be because Summit did not invest more.

In addition, they wondered why Lu Pingan didn't tell them first when he was going to shoot a new work.

After all, I made some promises when I met Lu Pingan before.

For example, Universal once offered a new movie contract with a production cost of 5000 million yuan.

But Lu Pingan seems to have forgotten?

So after the news was released, Lu Pingan received many calls.

"Lu, why didn't you say anything when you returned to America?"

"Lu, remember what we said last time?"

"lu"

Lu Pingan's answer to each company was the same: "Sorry, I thought you were talking politely, but I didn't take it seriously."

If the works of other companies really have great potential, he would naturally be willing to accept them.

But it was true as he himself said, the ghost knows whether these people were telling the truth or being polite at the time, and he himself has no shortage of good projects, so there is no need to regard their invitation as a life-saving straw in his career.

Besides, even if there is a really good project, "Happy Death Day" will not take him much time, and it will not be too late to chat after filming.

Through a phone call, the film and television companies on the other side knew that this was a "misunderstanding" caused by poor communication.

So soon a new solicitation link was opened.

Lu Pingan soon received project proposals from various companies.

Project costs range from $500 million to $3000 million.

The themes are also mainly horror and suspense, and the scripts are also average, and there are quite a few kung fu movies.

None of them were familiar to Lu Pingan.

In other words, people didn't really pay as much attention to it as they said.

The same is true for Universal, who said they were giving you a $5000 million big production, but they had never heard of the script that came out.

Lu Pingan asked if other scripts would work, but the other party shook his head, meaning that the company did not approve of other themes.

Among the reasons, the other party also said: "There are too many failure cases in the market, such as "Wind Talker" and "The Incredible Hulk". After speaking, the other party shrugged and stopped talking.

Lu Pingan knew that the other party didn't directly say that he didn't trust the Chinese director, which was considered polite.

Last year, Wu Yusen changed to a new theme, and "Wind Talker" rushed.

In June this year, Li An also changed to a new theme, and "Hulk" also rushed.

Chinese directors failed one after another, and Lu Pingan was also implicated.

However, Lu Pingan also knew that the so-called "implication" was still an excuse.

To put it bluntly, it is because I am Chinese, and the achievements I have made are not convincing enough. The subject matter of "Chain Saw" is somewhat limited, and some people even think that "Chain Saw" is a hit because of luck.

Therefore, Lu Pingan was not surprised by the current situation, which was expected.

After politely rejecting a group of people, Lu Pingan continued the preparations for "Happy Death Day".

The main scene of "Happy Death Day" is very simple, and the peak was done in one day.

Then there's casting.

This time it was the heroine, and Lu Pingan directly locked in a few people he was interested in, such as the widow sister, Jessica Alba and so on.

Anyway, no matter whether it's suitable or not, let's contact and see first. If they can come, these people will soon become famous, which is also good for the film.

Among the rest of the actors, the little brother David must be taken care of.

This time he came to Laomei and he still took the initiative to pick up the plane.

This is a more affectionate Yankee.

But this is also related to the fact that "Chain Saw" didn't bring him much bonus.

After "Chain Saw", he also acted in new works, but just like the projects sent by the production companies, there were not many splashes.

In Hollywood, just like in China, the films that can make money and become famous only account for less than 10% of all films.

It is normal for actors to act in many films, but remain unknown.

After invitations are issued, the next step is to arrange auditions.

This evening, another person from the production company called, and it was Warner.

The relationship between Warner and the mainland is quite deep.

Next year, Warner will establish China Film Warner Hengdian Film and Television Co., Ltd. with several mainland companies such as China Film and Hengdian. It is the first Sino-foreign joint venture film entertainment company in Chinese history. Its main business will include investment, production, distribution and promotion of Chinese-language films and TV films. .

Later, he participated in investing in films such as "Crazy Stone", "Red Cliff", and "Certificate of Fame".

Last year, Warner also collaborated with Feng Dapao on a mainland TV series.

So Warner can come to the door, it is estimated that the sincerity will be better than other companies.

But Lu Pingan also had his own ideas.

It’s okay to cooperate with Warner, but you can’t be the same as mainland directors. Hollywood is beckoning, you can do any film, and you don’t care about quality. As long as you only need the halo of “Hollywood”, that’s too bad.

So for Warner, Lu Pingan has only one purpose, and that is to participate in their DC Comic Change project.

Nolan's "Batman" trilogy is the goal.

In 1997, "Batman and Robin" directed by Joe Schumacher was named "No. 5 Worst Sequel Movie in History".

Because of this movie, the Batman series has become a hot potato in Warner's hands.

It has been almost 7 years now, and the IP "Batman" is still hidden by Warner, but Nolan will volunteer to ask Warner to restart the IP soon, and then the first "Batman: The Mystery of the Shadow" will start in March next year ", followed by Nolan's "Batman" trilogy came out.

The Batman trilogy has a lot of gold content, and Warner doesn't pay much attention to it at the moment. Lu Pingan feels that he really wants to cooperate with Warner. If they are willing to give it, then it is really okay. As for other projects, Lu Ping An is not interested in it, and Warner is afraid. I won't give it lightly.

So after seeing Warner's proposal for a purely Sino-American co-production, Lu Pingan asked directly: "I'm more interested in your Batman."

The little white old man named Henry was surprised.

How do you see Batman?

"It's not a good thing for young directors to operate such a big IP, and it has experienced a big failure."

Henry advised.

His goal is still to reach a Sino-US co-production with Lu Pingan to enhance Warner's influence in China.

It's just that Lu Ping'an's mind has been made up: "Go back and ask, whether this IP can be transferred or not, the money can be discussed."

If you want to be Batman, there are only two ways.

One is to just be a director, make a good film and make a name for yourself.

Either take down the IP.

If it's a cooperative investment or something, let's not talk about whether people are willing or not, even if they are willing, Lu Pingan will not do it.

Warner's character is well known to the world.

"Harry Potter" is still hanging on the crooked neck tree!
After Henry knew Lu Ping'an's attitude, he chatted for a while and left.

Lu Pingan didn't put all his hopes on him. Henry's main business is in China, so Lu Pingan also asked Tina and Xiang Guoqiang to cooperate with Fengfeng to contact Henry, and then negotiated with Warner over copyright way to start the conversation.

If the IP of "Batman" can be won for five or ten years, he is willing to spend a little more money.

The dividends brought by the trilogy are considerable.

Of course, it's okay if you really can't get it, after all, it's just a matter of taking advantage of Nolan's eye.

After talking about the matter, Lu Pingan also started auditioning.

David is on the male lead's side, and you can find the rest at will.

It's a pity for the heroine that Lu Ping'an couldn't get a few of her favorites.

Either there is no schedule, or the brokerage company simply doesn't care about small productions worth more than 400 million yuan.

The widow also failed to come.

Sister Widow and Lu Pingan met once in Oscar in the first half of the year. They had no contact information at that time, but they would definitely be able to talk better if they met once.

After contacting her through Dell, Ms. Widow expressed regret. She had a good impression of Lu Pingan. She is good at drawing and directing. She also likes script creativity, so she is naturally willing to cooperate.

But she really doesn't have time right now.

"Lost in Translation" will be released in North America at the end of August. Before that, it will be released in Maple Leaf Country, Mexico and other places. The company has arranged various announcements for her.

At just 19, she didn't have much choice.

Even if "Happy Death Day" only needs 15 to 20 days of schedule.

This reason is indeed strong. "Lost in Translation" also cost 4 million U.S. dollars. In the end, it won more than [-] million U.S. dollars at the global box office. It is currently going to be released in North America, the largest box office.

Lu Pingan didn't feel much regret, he was just asking to try.

However, through this communication, the two got to know each other a little better. In the end, Lu Pingan chose a future famous actress among the more than 200 girls who auditioned: Rachel McAdams.

This girl from Maple Leaf Country is the same age as Lu Pingan. She is currently a "Hollywood drifter". She has been drifting for two years and has done a lot of extras. The most important role that has been released so far is last year's "Turn into a Spice Girl". The character who swaps bodies with the male protagonist, and it is also a supporting role.

Another character is the heroine in "Lian Lian Notebook", she acted very well, Lu Pingan is very impressive, but this film was filmed at the end of last year, and it will be released until next summer, so it doesn't help her career, Rachel is still unknown .

Now being directly selected by Lu Pingan as the heroine, Rachel wept with joy on the spot.

I don't know how many bitter things are hidden in those tears.

The role was settled, and the filming officially started the next day.

(End of this chapter)