1990: Starting from Baojia Street

This was the first time the two met, but when Zhou Yan saw Chris carrying two bottles of liquor and a bag of tea, he immediately had a rather three-dimensional understanding of the foreigner.

"A small gift is no respect."

Sure enough, Chris's Chinese is very standard, and he even has a bit of Yanjing accent, probably because he has been in Yanjing for many years.

"Chris, you came just when you said you would come, why would you bring anything with you? It's too unreasonable." Zhou Yan said politely.

"I don't know what you like, Mr. Zhou, so I brought some wine and tea. This tea is this year's new tea. A friend from the south brought it to me. I don't know much about tea myself. It would be a waste of money to leave it here. It’s better to give it to someone who knows how to appreciate it.”

Zhou Yan secretly lamented that if Chris had not stayed in Yanjing for ten years, he would not be able to say such things.

Moreover, Chris was very precise in his gestures and gestures, and seemed to have thoroughly understood the ways of dealing with Chinese people.

"Okay, then I'm welcome."

Zhou Yan didn't hold back anymore, took the gift with a smile and put it on the cabinet, then went to pour tea for Chris, "Black tea or green tea?"

"I can do it, just look at it." Chris smiled.

Zhou Yan nodded and made him a cup of white tea.

"This tea has a softer taste. I'm afraid you won't be able to drink the others."

Zhou Yan usually drinks more melon slices in the office, but melon slices are stronger and Chris may not be able to get used to it.

Chris took the tea cup, smelled it, and then smiled and said, "Well, the taste is refreshing and elegant, and the aroma is rich. It is a rare good tea. I am very lucky today."

Zhou Yan sat across from Chris and looked at Chris's appearance. He found it quite interesting. This guy did all the tricks. He was really a rare foreigner.

These days, there are very few Europeans and Americans who can speak Chinese as well as Chris, and even fewer foreigners can learn the Chinese spirit so well.

Xu Feng told him before that Chris was going to read the script. Zhou Yan was still wondering whether the foreigner could understand it since he only had a Chinese script now.

Looking at Chris's posture now, there is a high probability that he can understand Chinese characters.

Zhou Yan was not in a hurry to give the script to Chris, but asked him with interest, "Chris, have you stayed in China for a long time?"

Chris put down his tea cup and said with a smile, "I came quite early. In 1979, I stayed in Yanjing for a month due to work reasons. The second time I came here was in 1985, and I stayed for more than half a year. Well, until 1988, I came to China for the third time, and this time I stayed for a long time. To this day, I have only gone back six or seven times, basically once a year. "

"Then your language learning ability is too strong. It's only been a few years and it's already so good." Zhou Yan couldn't help but sigh.

He thought Chris had stayed in China for more than ten years, but after calculation, Chris only stayed in China for seven or eight years.

It is indeed not easy to learn this state in such a short period of time.

When it comes to language, pronunciation is secondary. The key is that Chris's speaking habits are basically the same as those of Chinese people, and he can also come up with idioms inadvertently.

Idioms are something that many people, not to mention foreigners, even native Chinese, have trouble using.

Because idioms are "hyperlinks", you cannot use them just by memorizing them by rote. You often need to fully understand the meaning of the idiom, and even understand the allusions behind it, in order to use it appropriately.

"Teacher Zhou, you are overestimating me. I actually studied Chinese for a period of time before I came to China."

Zhou Yan nodded, "If Warner can invite you to sit in the Yanjing office, then we will have a head start in developing work in China."

In fact, Zhou Yan was talking politely. Although Chris is very good at Chinese and has a good understanding of Chinese culture, when it comes to advantages, he may not necessarily have the local People's Congress of China.

Wu Xianfeng, the manager of Columbia's Yanjing office, is a native of Yanjing. Wu Xianfeng has a wide network of contacts in Yanjing, so it is very convenient to get things done.

Of course, Chris also has his own advantages. He is a foreigner and a representative of Warner. When doing things in China, others have to give him some face.

The two chatted for a while, and Zhou Yan gave the script of "Shutter Island" to Chris.

"Reading in Chinese should be no problem, right?"

"Normal is no problem." Chris smiled.

"Well, then you should read it yourself first. I still have some work to do. If there is anything you don't understand, you can always ask me."

"Okay, you are busy with your business and don't worry about me."

……

Chris’s Chinese proficiency is enough to read a script.

Moreover, the script Zhou Yan gave him was a printed version, with clear handwriting and typesetting, making it look effortless.

Chris didn't pay too much attention to the name Shutter Island, he just glanced at it and opened the text.

After reading just a few lines, Chris couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Xu Feng told him on the phone in the morning that Zhou Yan had written this script specifically for Warner Bros., but all the scripts had Chinese names.

Of course, it can also be explained that the script was written for Warner, but the story to be filmed is a Chinese story, but it sounds a bit far-fetched no matter how you listen.

Zhou Yan probably wrote the script in advance, but for some reason he didn't want to film it, so he just sold it to Warner Bros. this time.

Of course, Chris doesn't worry about this now, he just wants to see what the script is like.

Chris has high expectations for this script, because Zhou Yan has never failed since his debut.

Whether it is the earliest short film "Antfly" or the three subsequent feature films, every script is very good.

To be honest, Zhou Yan's directing skills are not outstanding, especially when he was filming his first feature film "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly", many parts of the film were handled a bit immaturely.

Even the third film "Spring of the Cowherd Class" cannot compare with those film masters in terms of technique.

The main reason why these three movies were successful was the story itself and Zhou Yan's soundtrack.

"The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly" and "Spring of the Cowherd Class", these two stories plus Zhou Yan's soundtrack, any director can still produce a good work.

Not to mention "The Sixth Sense", the main thing is that the story structure and details are handled well, and there is nothing special even in terms of soundtrack.

After reading the first part of "Shutter Island", Chris was quite surprised, because the style of this story was different from Zhou Yan's previous stories.

Of course, Zhou Yan doesn't have a fixed style. If I have to say it, variety is his style.

However, the reason why Zhou Yan made these movies seems to be traceable.

Chris has had a relatively in-depth understanding of Zhou Yan, especially several of the movies Zhou Yan has made.

Zhou Yan's first movie "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly" is a heartwarming movie about family love. Some analysts say that the reason why Zhou Yan made this movie was actually inspired by another Chinese movie "Reply from Heaven" Impact.

"The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly" and "Heaven Replies" belong to the same type of movie, and the movie "Heaven Replies" also had a great impact on Zhou Yan's career. It was this movie that allowed many people to see Zhou Yan Talent in film scoring.

The style of the second feature film "The Sixth Sense" is completely different from the previous one. There are many opinions about this film. Some people speculate that it is related to Wang Zuxian, while others speculate that it is related to Zhou Yan's novel "Tree Hole".

The third feature film "Spring of the Cowherd Class" can be said to be a perfect fusion of Zhou Yan's multiple identities. It is completely reasonable for a film with the theme of music and education to be made by Zhou Yan, a music teacher.

As for "Shutter Island", for the time being, it seems to be a detective story. This is an area Zhou Yan has not touched before, and he doesn't know if he can write it well.

In Chris's view, scripts such as science fiction and detectives require a certain degree of professionalism on the part of the creators, otherwise they are likely to fail if written.

However, as the story developed, Chris discovered that Zhou Yan really had the ability to write detective scripts. At least now, he could be distracted by the storyline and wanted to know the development of the story later. Setting up suspense in a detective movie is a very important thing, and it doesn’t mean just setting up suspense. It needs to be set up just right. You can’t always set up a suspense at the beginning, but in the process of the story developing, people will ignore the suspense.

Good suspense runs throughout, and the development of the case must be peeled off and moved forward step by step.

As for Zhou Yan's script, at least the first half has achieved this. Now it depends on whether it can attract people when the truth emerges later.

Chris, like Xu Feng, was led by Gan Wenshan's perspective throughout the whole process. He had even figured out that this prison was conducting some evil human experiments, so it was full of weirdness.

Later, Gan Wenshan discovered the female prisoner Qin Yu, and was told by Qin Yu that she was actually a doctor and that the prison was conducting human experiments.

At this time, Chris patted his thigh, with a proud smile on his lips.

Sure enough, his hunch was right, the truth was this, and there were indeed some hints in the script.

At this point, Chris feels that "Shutter Island" is a pretty good detective story, but if he were asked to rate it, he would only give it seven out of ten at most.

I can give it a seven because the pace of the story is really good and very engaging.

The other three points were not given because the story is relatively cliche, just a simple police discovery of a conspiracy, and Chris always felt that there were some foreshadowings that were not explained clearly.

Although he couldn't figure out what these foreshadowings pointed to, he just felt that something was missing. Those details and hints that could be seen everywhere could not be said to be meaningless at all.

Later, the protagonist should meet the big boss hidden behind the whole thing, and then the protagonist will win with difficulty, and justice finally defeats evil.

But just when Chris thought so, the story suddenly took a big turn.

Gan Wenshan walked up to the lighthouse and did not find the so-called human laboratory. He only saw Fang Li, the prison doctor in charge.

Fang Li told Gan Wenshan that he was not a criminal police officer at all, but a mentally ill prisoner in the prison. The murderer Liu Murui he wanted to find was actually himself.

While Gan Wenshan was arguing with Fang Li, his deceased partner Zhang Yong suddenly appeared, leaving Gan Wenshan in endless shock.

Zhang Yong told Gan Wenshan that he was Gan Wenshan's attending doctor and had been in charge of him for two years.

At this time, it was not only Gan Wenshan who was in shock. Chris, who was holding the script, also had dilated pupils and a look of shock on his face.

He never expected that the story would take such a turn.

But after this reversal appeared, Chris quickly accepted it, because he found that with this ending, all the weird things that appeared before were reasonable.

Why is Zhang Yong obviously a criminal policeman, but he is not even skilled in the action of drawing a gun.

Why is Mount Ganwen so afraid of water?

Why did the people in the prison deny prisoner No. 67?

Also, Chris only discovered the coincidence between the names Gan Wenshan and Liu Murui at this time. Gan Wenshan turned out to be derived from the three characters Liu Murui, but he had never noticed this before.

It's like a puzzle. In fact, the person who asked the question has already put the answer on the puzzle surface, but the guesser has never discovered it.

Chris raised his head and glanced at Zhou Yan, who was working hard. His eyes were full of wonder. He suddenly remembered the mood he had when watching "The Sixth Sense" before.

When the truth about the ending of "The Sixth Sense" was revealed, he was also filled with shock.

Zhou Yan is really good at completing such special reversals.

Moreover, the story structure of "Shutter Island" is even more clever than "The Sixth Sense".

Of course, although it is also a reversal, "Shutter Island" looks very depressing, while "The Sixth Sense" is very warm and healing.

Chris couldn't help but turn to the front of the script again to study some details that he hadn't noticed just now.

The more he researched, the more Chris discovered that the structure of this script was so clever.

After seeing it, Chris was so excited that his hands were shaking.

Originally they just wanted the rights to remake "Springtime of the Cowherd Class", but they didn't expect that he would see such an excellent script.

No matter how good "Spring of the Cowherd" is, it is still a remake. With the original script of "Shutter Island", they have a lot of room for maneuver.

In fact, Chris also somewhat understood why Xu Feng and Zhou Yan released the script instead of letting Zhou Yan film it himself.

Because if you want to make this movie, the cost will definitely be high. It is very difficult for Chinese producers to afford such a blockbuster.

The key is that in China's current market, it is difficult to guarantee box office revenue. Even if Zhou Yan were to film it himself, it would be very risky.

In this case, it’s really better to leave it to big companies like them.

After Warner gets the script, it can find the best director, the best actors, and the best production team to complete an impeccable blockbuster.

"This script must be taken down."

Chris clenched his fists and made up his mind.

However, he did not rush to speak. Instead, he read the script carefully in order to make an assessment as correct as possible.

Another hour passed, but before Chris could speak, Zhou Yan put down the pen in his hand, stretched out, and asked Chris with a smile, "How are you, are you finished reading? Do you want to have a meal first before reading?"

Chris hesitated for a while and then said, "Teacher Zhou, can you give me an English version of the script so that I can communicate with the company more easily?"

Originally, Chris wanted to talk to Zhou Yan directly, but after thinking for a long time, he decided not to talk about it yet, because he felt that he could not make the decision on this matter, and he had to ask the company before making a decision.

Zhou Yan understood this and nodded, "No problem, I will have someone translate the script into English and then give you a copy. But it will take some time, about half a month."

"No problem, of course we can wait for half a month, but please agree to my request and never give the script to other companies before talking to us."

Chris didn't believe that this script was written for Warner, so he wanted to make sure that the script would not be cut off by other companies such as Columbia.

After all, Zhou Yan has a good relationship with Columbia Company now, and the possibility of being intercepted is too high.

Zhou Yan nodded and agreed, "No problem, I can promise that I will not talk to other companies before talking to you. Of course, you must decide as soon as possible. I can't wait for you if it takes too long."

"Teacher Zhou, don't worry, as soon as your English version of the script comes out, we will make a decision soon, and we will definitely not waste your time." Chris promised.

Zhou Yan thought for a while and then said, "Actually, I am going to the United States in a while. If I have time, we can also talk in the United States. By the way, I will also give you a vaccination in advance. What do you think? To get the script, it’s not just about sharing and remuneration, I also need to see which director you can hire.”

Chris rolled his eyes and immediately understood what Zhou Yan meant, "You mean that you have a director you like. Can you ask who this candidate is?"

Chris was not surprised that Zhou Yan wanted to choose a director because they had experienced it before.

The last time Warner competed with Columbia for the right to remake "The Sixth Sense", the reason they lost to Columbia in the final stage was because Columbia found Zhou Yan's favorite director.

Chris didn't want to fail for the same reason this time, so he was eager to know who Zhou Yan's favorite director was, so that he could make arrangements in advance.

Zhou Yan shook his head and did not answer, "Let's wait until I go to the United States to discuss this. It's still too early to say now."

Hearing what Zhou Yan said, Chris sighed slightly and could only nod his head and said, "Okay, then we will wait for the English version of the script to come out first, and we will talk about other things later."

"Okay." Zhou Yan smiled and stood up, "It's getting late, let's stay and eat. I won't take you out, so just have a meal in the cafeteria of our studio. I'll treat you to a big meal later if you have time. meal."

Chris also stood up, "Then it's better to be respectful than to obey." (End of Chapter)