Meizong Wealth Life

Chapter 155 Copying the original cast of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

Fortunately, Jamie didn't point out the "ambiguity" in that sentence in public.

Li Yu and his wife breathed a sigh of relief and quickly and enthusiastically invited the guests into the house.

The host and guests sat down in front of the fireplace in the living room.

During the chat, Li Yuzai explained to Ovitz why he chose to live in New York instead of Los Angeles.

Mainly for family reasons.

Li Yu’s wife works in New York and his children go to school here, and Li Yu is a very family-oriented person.

Of course, this kind of Gu family was forced at first.

Li Yu told Ovitz that he could not find a job for a long time after graduating from the New York Film Academy and relied on his wife to make money alone to support the family.

It wasn't until he became famous after filming the "Father Trilogy" and began to enter the attention of mainstream Hollywood film producers that Li Eu's income began to exceed that of his wife.

Even so, Li Yu's wife still has no idea of ​​resigning and going home to be a full-time housewife.

As Li Yu said jokingly, his wife disliked the unstable income of being a director. If one day the movie was sold out, the whole family would have to go hungry if they lost their jobs.

It is precisely because his wife gave Li Yu the confidence to "eat soft food hard" that Li Yu also bluntly said that he will only make movies according to his own ideas.

If the work he produces can be liked by the audience, that is his luck.

If he doesn't like it, he won't be discouraged and will patiently wait for the next opportunity.

He is worthy of being a man who will win an Oscar for the second time in the future. He can speak so confidently, fresh and refined even when he is eating soft food.

And Li Yu’s reasons seem to be very reasonable.

What’s wrong with eating soft food in order to pursue the film art in your mind?

After hearing what Li Yu said, Ovitz immediately apologized solemnly, saying that he had misunderstood Li Yu before.

This time, Li Yu was confused?

Strictly speaking, today was the first time the two met. From the time they walked in to the time they started chatting, it only lasted about ten minutes.

What misunderstanding can you have about me?

"I always thought that Mr. Li, like most Chinese Americans, has a strong patriarchal mindset. But I found out that this is completely a stereotype. Mr. Li is actually a man who respects women and even worships them."

Li Yu looked confused.

He is just a freeloader, how come he worships women?

Before Li Yu could clarify, Ovitz turned to look at Jamie.

"On the way here, I was a little worried. If you re-revised the script and focused the plot on the heroine because Jack Cheng resigned, it would cause Director Li Yu to have any opinions on the script. Now it seems that I am overly worried. ”

Li Yu was stunned again.

Has the script been revised?

Ovitz's next words also confirmed this. He told Li Yu that "The Instant Universe" is a film with a female-centered perspective.

"Jamie even gave this movie a nice Chinese name, "The Multiverse of Damn"!"

Seeing Li Yu's wide-eyed and stunned expression, Ovitz was very proud.

In order to practice the Chinese pronunciation of these six characters, he specifically asked Jamie for advice, and practiced it many times in front of the mirror before coming.

The effect looks pretty good!

Before Li Yu could recover, Jamie suddenly spoke.

"Mr. Li, I came up with this name to play with when I was bored. The official Chinese name of this movie is "Tianma Xingkong"."

The well-spoken Mandarin is much easier to listen to than the poor foreigner-style Chinese spoken by Ovitz just now.

Ovitz's voice immediately rang out.

"What are you talking about?"

Jamie replied in English:

"I am very talented in learning Chinese."

Ovitz turned his head to Li Yu in confusion.

Li Yu could only nod awkwardly and was forced to help Jamie lie.

Mainly, Li Yu was also helpless.

You can't tell Ovitz that he almost heard the Chinese name of "The Instant Universe" as a curse word just now.

The breadth and depth of Chinese cannot be understood by a foreigner like Ovitz who is complacent after learning the pronunciation of a few words.

Of course Jamie is the exception.

Fortunately, Ovitz didn't pay too much attention to this matter. What he said to Li Yu was to warm up the script discussion for the next highlight-"The Instant Universe".

Li Yu was indeed attracted by the two harmonious names of "The Uncanny Universe" and "The Multiverse of Mother".

He wanted to know what kind of story it was that could combine these two seemingly completely different names at the same time.

Jamie didn't give in, and spent about half an hour telling the complete story of "The Instant Universe".

Jamie picked out all the details in the film that pay homage to other movies.

Because some of the movies that pay homage to imitations have not yet been made in this world, Jamie turned them into his own originals without any psychological pressure.

When those movies are made in the future, the famous scenes in them will change from original to tribute.

If there are similarities, you can copy me!

At the end, Jamie added:

"Originally, Brother Cheng Long agreed to be the leading actor, but later he turned it down, so I had no choice but to revise the script and focus the story on a mother. Later I found that the story became more interesting because of it. This is also It’s an unexpected bonus.”

Before Li Yu had time to react, Ovitz's voice rang out first.

"The only bad thing is that the original theme of father-son reconciliation has changed to mother-daughter reconciliation. The previous stereotype made me think that Mr. Li is only good at making movies that explore the relationship between father and son."

This was originally intended to echo Jamie's previous statement, but unexpectedly Jamie was the first to stand up and speak out against it.

"I actually wrote it that way on purpose."

Under Ovitz's surprised gaze, Jamie continued to explain:

"The father-son theme has become Mr. Lee's comfort zone. If he can't get out of it, it will be meaningless repetition. This is also what I thought when I saw the outline of the previous version of the "Hulk" script. My first reaction at the time Why is this the same thing again? Can there be something new?"

Li Yu had a look of disdain on his face.

He didn't have the nerve to explain that the father-son setting in "The Incredible Hulk" was actually forced into it by his former agent, Karl Meyer, on the grounds that it could enhance the producer's confidence in Li Eu's direction.

Before "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Li Yu was most famous for the "Father and Son Trilogy", so both CAA and Universal felt that adding a father-son setting would be safer.

Jamie's voice continued.

"After this modification, the only bad thing is not that father and son become mother and daughter, as Michael just said. In fact, whether it is father and son or mother and daughter, it is still exploring the gap between two generations."

"The only thing that may be a hindrance is that the role of the male protagonist is reduced to that of a supporting actor. On the way here, Michael talked to me about the choice of the male protagonist. He wanted to find Jet Li to play this role. Mr. Li, what do you think? Woolen cloth?"

Li Yu hesitated for a moment. Li Yu was quite happy when he first heard that Ovitz was interested in finding Jet Li to be the leading actor.

It's a pity that we couldn't cooperate with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". I didn't expect to be able to continue it here.

But he was not happy for a few seconds, and Li Yu immediately realized a serious problem.

Wen Wu is the first, Wu Wu is the second!

Most action actors have a bit of a competitive element in their personalities.

This is reflected in Cheng Long's good face, and in Jet Li's person it is high-spirited.

In order to get ahead in Hollywood, Jet Li is willing to accept any role, the only condition is that he must play the leading role.

Let Li Lianjie act as a matchmaker for someone, and also act as a green leaf for an actress. Based on Li Yu's understanding of Jet Li, the other party will most likely not agree.

Li Yu did not explicitly say that Li Lianjie would not play the lead role, but vaguely mentioned that he might not be satisfied with the existing scenes.

Ovitz understood instantly and then asked:

"Even if we give him the salary and treatment of a leading actor?"

Of course, this money is not given in vain. Jet Li will definitely be used as the main selling point when promoting the movie.

The movie poster is also properly booked in the C position.

But this is not the case when judging awards.

No matter how much the producers exaggerate Jet Li's status in the movie, the judges are not blind and will only count him as a supporting actor.

Unless Jet Li's performance in the movie is too amazing, just like Hannibal in "Silence of the Lambs", who won the Oscar for only sixteen minutes of acting.

Of course, as long as the money is available, Jet Li will most likely take over the film.

Even if the film is questioned after it is released and he is not the leading actor, Jet Li can still blame Li Eucalyptus.

He said, "He acted in this drama just for Li Yu's sake." He took a lot of money and earned Li Yu's favor in vain.

Li Lianjie is definitely not at a loss, but Li Eucalyptus feels it is a loss!

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has proven that Jet Li's absence was his loss, not Li's.

After hesitating for a moment, Li recommended another actor to Ovitz.

Zhou Runfa!

It's not that Li Lianjie is bad, but that Zhou Runfa is more cost-effective!

Of course, this was what Li Yu had in mind. On the surface, his reason for recommending Zhou Runfa was simpler.

Li Lianjie's kung fu is nothing to say, but his acting skills are slightly inferior.

In particular, "The Instant Universe" is positioned as a comedy film. The male protagonist has a wide range of images in different universes. It will probably be difficult for Jet Li's acting skills to handle these different roles.

In contrast, the hero's skill is not that important.

After all, most of the kung fu scenes in the film were moved to the heroine when Jamie revised the script.

Ovitz's understanding of Zhou Runfa was limited to the white knight flying around in the bamboo forest in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

After all, Zhou Runfa does not have the same kung fu labels as Cheng Long and Jet Li. Even if the average foreigner has watched Zhou Runfa's movies, it will be difficult for him to identify him.

Fortunately, there was Jamie who was familiar with Hong Kong Island and Chinese-language movies.

After listening to Li Yu's suggestion, Ovitz immediately turned his attention to Jamie sitting by the fireplace.

"What Mr. Li means is to use the original cast of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to film "The Universe"?"

Li Yu was the first to be stunned.

He only recommended Zhou Runfa to play the male lead, but he didn't say that other actors should also be cast from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"!

But Jamie obviously didn't say this to him, but to Ovitz beside him.

Ovitz's eyes lit up.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" earned more than 2 million U.S. dollars at the global box office last year and sparked a craze for oriental martial arts films.

This heat is not in vain!

Without giving Li Yu any chance to deny it, Ovitz spoke first:

"Yes, I think the most suitable candidate for the heroine of the movie is Ms. Yang Ziqiong. She happens to be an old friend of Mr. Li. I think Mr. Li would not mind working with her again, right?"

A helpless smile appeared at the corner of Li Yu's mouth.

To be fair, Li Eucalyptus also agrees that Yang Ziqiong is the most suitable candidate to play the heroine of "The Instant Universe".

But this feeling of being passive everywhere, like being pushed forward, still made Li Yu feel very uncomfortable.

He knew that the other party's real purpose was to consume the reputation and reputation of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but Li Yu had no idea what to do.

Fortunately now, Li Yu has completely lost his say in selecting roles in the film.

I can only watch helplessly as Ovitz looks at the cast list of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and finalizes the main roles in "The Instant Universe" one by one.

The heroine Yang Ziqiong.

The male protagonist Zhou Runfa.

Daughter Zhang Ziyi.

The heroine’s father-in-law, Lang Xiong.

Except for Zhou Runfa, the other three characters are not from Li Yu's original intention.

It's not that Li Yu is dissatisfied with these three actors. If he was really asked to choose, there is a high probability that he would only choose these three.

It was obviously not Li Yu's choice, but it was so suitable that no one could fault it. This was the first time Li Yu encountered this contradictory and awkward feeling.

Li Yu now even suspects that "The Instant Universe" is simply a sequel that Jamie copied based on the cast of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

How else could it be such a coincidence that all the characters fit together so "perfectly"?

Of course, Li Yu didn't dare to ask this directly, so he could only ask in a sideways way how Jamie came up with the idea of ​​writing such a script.

Jamie shrugged and replied half-jokingly and half-seriously:

"I thought Mr. Lee would first ask me, a true American, why I would write a story focusing on Chinese Americans."

Li Yu was speechless for a while.

As a foreigner who speaks Mandarin better than many Chinese-Americans, is it strange to write a story that focuses on the Chinese-American community?

Fortunately, Jamie didn’t mean to dwell too much on this issue, and then explained:

"Actually, Mr. Li should have guessed that I copied this script!"

"Of course a more accurate way of saying it is to stitch together parts of other films that I think are interesting."

"For example, the setting of the multiverse is copied from Jet Li's "The Universe" released last month, and then the character relationships are copied from the "Terminator" series, and there are many fights in it, which are also tributes to some classic Hong Kong classics. A scene from the film."

"And just now, I came up with another good idea. Regarding the different identities of the male and female protagonists in the multiverse, it can completely pay tribute to the character settings in the classic Hong Kong movies they have made before."

"For example, Zhou Runfa's identity in the multiverse can be the killer Ma Ge, the god of gambling Gao Jin, or the racing driver A Lang. For viewers who are familiar with Hong Kong movies, this will definitely be a very interesting easter egg!"

(End of this chapter)