Meizong Wealth Life

Chapter 156 Marvel was acquired in advance

After more than an hour, the meeting ended.

Li Yu personally walked Jamie and Ovitz to the door and watched them get into the Maybach 62 and leave.

When I got home, I found that there were still coffee cups left by two guests on the coffee table in the living room.

His wife Lin Huijia was sitting aside, holding the script left by Jamie in her hand and looking at it in fascination.

Li Yu didn't alert his wife. He walked over quietly, picked up the cup and prepared to take it to the kitchen to wash.

At this moment, the wife suddenly raised her head.

"It's okay, you watch first, I'll wash the cup." Li Yu raised the cup in his hand and explained.

"Oh, then go ahead."

After the wife finished speaking, she continued to hold up the script in her hand.

Li Yu was stunned for a moment.

He thought his wife would say "let me do it", but it turned out not to be what he thought at all.

Just like some time ago, Li Yu and Lin Huijia went to the supermarket to buy food together, and met a Chinese fellow. The other person said to Lin Huijia with envy:

"Your husband is so famous. It's not easy for you to come shopping with him."

Who would have thought that Lin Huijia not only refused to buy it, but also choked her on the spot.

"Are you mistaken? I took the time to accompany him to buy groceries today. He should be the one who is happy, right?"

By accident, Li Yu's true status in the family was exposed.

So what if you are a great director? You still have to be a househusband at home.

Just like now, Li Yu not only had to clean up the cups used by the guests himself, but after washing the cups, he saw that it was almost dinner time, so he put on an apron and started busy in the kitchen.

Washing vegetables, chopping vegetables, and cooking with skillful movements.

After a while, the aroma of food wafted from the kitchen.

By the time his two sons got home by school bus, Li Yu had already placed bowls, chopsticks and plates on the dining table.

The youngest son Li Chun smelled the aroma of braised pork and ran to the table to eat secretly, but was caught by Li Yu.

As "punishment", Li Yu asked Li Chun to go to the living room to ask Lin Huijia to eat.

Soon the family sat down at the dining table.

Li Yu served Lin Huijia a bowl of soup first, and at the same time curiously asked his wife about her "reflections" on the script "The Instant Universe".

In the past, Li Yu would often take scripts home, but Lin Huijia was never interested.

However, today she watched it all afternoon and even delayed making dinner.

Li Yu didn't have any objection to his wife not cooking dinner, but he was simply curious about why Lin Huijia suddenly became interested in movie scripts.

Lin Huijia took a sip of soup and replied without raising her head:

"Li Hang should consider which university to apply to in the second half of next year. I asked him his thoughts. There are three schools he likes the most: Stanford, MIT and Harvard."

Of the two sons, the eldest son inherited Lin Huijia's talent as a top student, while the younger son was more like Li Yu.

Li Yu and Lin Huijia have already discussed their future academic plans, but what does this have to do with the script of "The Instant Universe".

"I want to see what a talented academic who can score perfect on the SAT and is admitted to Harvard early will write."

This reason...

Li Yu put down the bowls and chopsticks in his hands and asked curiously:

"So what's the catch?"

Lin Huijia picked up the bowl and answered during the break between drinking soup:

"The whole story is very imaginative, but I like the multiverse setting more. Every decision a person makes will create a parallel universe, so choices are really important in a person's life."

Li Yu decided to be "naughty".

"Then can you help me predict what difference it will make to my future life if I make this movie or not?"

Lin Huijia raised her head and glanced at Li Yu.

"Your previous films have never featured a female perspective—"

"There are three daughters in "Eat Drink Man Woman"."

"But the main perspective is still focused on the old father. From this, it can be seen that you are a person with strong patriarchal ideas."

Li Yu was about to deny it, but Lin Huijia didn't give him any chance to speak.

"I admit that you respect me very much in your daily life, and you can even say that you love and tolerate me in every aspect, but your works will not lie unless you make a film to prove it to me."

Li Yu was stunned.

After going around in a circle, it turned out that he was waiting for him here.

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

Just as he was talking, the landline phone in the living room rang.

The younger son Li Chun put down his chopsticks and was about to get up to answer the phone, but was pushed back by Lin Huijia's look.

The call coming from this point could only be for her or Li Yu.

Li Yu got up and came to the living room and picked up the phone.

Jiang Zhiqiang's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"How was your meeting with Ovitz?"

"It's all settled, I'm going to call you right after dinner."

"drama?"

"How should I put it? It should be regarded as a drama film at its heart, but the effect should be more like a commercial film."

"Like the previous Hulk?"

"It should be exactly the opposite. "The Incredible Hulk" is essentially a commercial film, but I wanted to make it more artistic. As you already know, I was struck out."

"But you have lost something and gained something in the east. Let me tell you quickly. How about that script?"

"I just got the script and I only have a rough idea. It may take me a few days to figure it out."

Li Yu replied calmly.

Anyone who knows him knows that a few days here is roughly equivalent to ten days and a half month.

Even so, Jiang Zhiqiang on the other end of the phone remained enthusiastic.

"Then tell me about the part you already have a clue about."

"Well...the actors have already been decided."

"So fast?!"

"Don't worry, because I didn't decide this matter. The other party told me as soon as they came that they wanted to find these actors."

"So overbearing and not asking for your opinion at all? Or does the other party think he knows actors in the Chinese film industry better than you?"

"You may not believe it, but Jamie Dutton, who wrote this script, speaks Chinese better than I do, and he knows Hong Kong films very well. Of course, they actually respected my opinion, but the way of respecting it was a bit special."

"What do you mean?"

"Jamie Dutton personally admitted that his script was based on the characters of the cast of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and the plot incorporated many movie settings. You should be familiar with this, right?"

Jiang Zhiqiang on the other end of the phone was silent.

To say that the most severe plagiarism is the Hong Kong films of the 80s and 90s, when a subject becomes popular, a bunch of similar films will immediately appear.    Either the plot is copied, or the cast is copied.

The most outrageous thing is that he can even copy the character styles in the movie.

After Lin Qingxia became famous for her role as Dongfang Bubai in Xu Ke's "Swordsman 2", she went on to film five or six martial arts movies. The look in them cannot be said to be exactly the same as Dongfang Bubai, it can only be said that there is no difference.

On the phone just now, Li Yu said that Jamie knew everything about Hong Kong movies. Jiang Zhiqiang didn't quite believe it, but now he does.

Using the original cast of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" to shoot a new movie may be suspected of gaining popularity, but countless Hong Kong films have proven that this trick is indeed effective.

Besides, this movie is also directed by Li Eucalyptus.

Can you call rubbing yourself against your own heat?

Jiang Zhiqiang has even thought about it for Li Yu.

If "The Transient Universe" gets a good response after being filmed, we can completely emulate Li Yu's previous "Father and Son Trilogy" and make another movie based on the original cast and make it a trilogy.

Only in this way can we truly make the best use of everything.

Li Yu hadn't thought that far yet, and just asked Jiang Zhiqiang to help contact Zhou Runfa and Zhang Ziyi to coordinate the schedule.

Jiang Zhiqiang agreed immediately.

Zhang Ziyi is currently filming "Hero" with Zhang Yimou's crew. In this film, she only plays a maid. Her role is not that big and the filming has been completed long ago.

However, he continued to stay on the set. He would hang out next to Zhang Yimou all day long, pretending to be open-minded and studious, but in fact, everyone on the set knew what he was thinking.

I was able to star in Li Yu's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" thanks to Zhang Yimou's recommendation.

Although the current "Hero" does not have a heroine, Zhang Yimou is actually planning his next movie project.

Or a martial arts movie.

Zhang Ziyi felt that if she worked hard, she would have no problem winning the heroine.

During this period, Zhang Ziyi will probably not take on any other roles, so as not to affect Zhang Yimou's perception of her in his next film.

But if it were Li Yu who approached Zhang Ziyi for filming, the situation would be different.

First of all, Zhang Ziyi must be absolutely happy.

She has always had great ambitions to enter Hollywood. She starred as the villain for the first time in "Rush Hour 2", which she collaborated with Cheng Long, and the effect was pretty good.

Now that there is an opportunity to continue participating in film shooting, such a plan will definitely not be missed.

And Zhang Yimou will definitely support this matter.

The better Zhang Ziyi develops in Hollywood, the more it shows that he is a talented person with good vision.

In addition, Zhang Yimou has a good relationship with Li Eu, and even his filming of "Hero" was influenced by Li Eu's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Of course, that's to say it in a nice way.

To put it in a bad light, Zhang Yimou is following the trend of Li Yu.

Ordinary directors just follow the trend, but for a director of Zhang Yimou's level, he won't say it verbally, but he still cares about it in his heart.

Li Yu is willing to cooperate with Zhang Ziyi for a second time, which shows that he doesn't care about Zhang Yimou's following the trend.

This way Zhang Yimou can feel more comfortable.

And the leading actor Zhou Runfa is also very easy to hire.

Of course, this is only for Li Eucalyptus's movies.

In fact, after filming "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Chow Yun-fat has not taken on a new movie for a whole year.

As early as a few years ago, Chow Yun-fat had already shifted his career focus to Hollywood, but his real popularity started with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

But Hollywood's interest in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" does not mean that it is interested in Chow Yun-fat.

Of course, there are also some small film companies that approached Chow Run-fa, but they were all low-cost films with poor scripts.

In line with the principle of erring on the side of shortage rather than excess, Zhou Runfa, of course, refused them all.

But Zhou Runfa must also be worried.

After all, his old friends are in Hollywood, and each one is more prosperous than the last.

His old partner Wu Yusen, who collaborated with Tom Cruise on "Mission: Impossible 2" last year, grossed US$2 million at the box office in North America alone, becoming the annual box office champion.

"Old rival" Cheng Long also produced "Rush Hour 2" this year, which grossed US$2.2 million in North America and US$3.4 million globally.

During the two weeks, Zhou Xingchi chose to stay in Hong Kong Island and continue to delve into the Chinese film market, while Cheng Long has already carved a niche in Hollywood and joined the ranks of Hollywood super giants.

Only Zhou Runfa was stuck in the middle, neither up nor down, and was in a dilemma.

If Li Yu sends out an invitation at this time, it will be like good news from heaven for Zhou Runfa.

Although Li Yu had made it clear in advance on the phone that Zhou Runfa was only invited to play a supporting actor this time, Jiang Zhiqiang felt that it was not a big problem.

If Zhou Runfa cares about this, the worst he can do is promote Zhou Runfa as the leading actor in Chinese-speaking areas later.

The remaining heroine, Yang Ziqiong, has long since left the Hong Kong film industry, so Li Eucalyptus plans to call and invite her in person.

After talking about the actors, Jiang Zhiqiang asked Li Yu about another matter.

"The other party snatched "The Incredible Hulk" from you, and then asked you to cooperate with "The Instant Universe". This kind of approach of hitting you with a stick and giving you a date, do you really have no grudges at all?"

Fortunately, Jiang Zhiqiang was very close to Li Yu, so he dared to ask this question.

When answering, Li Yu's tone revealed some helplessness.

"Actually, I was a little concerned at first, but after I saw the news yesterday, Universal announced that it would acquire Marvel within three years, and then I felt relieved. I can't stop this kind of thing."

"Universal acquires Marvel, so quickly?"

Jiang Zhiqiang's tone on the other end of the phone couldn't conceal his surprise.

"Yeah, I always thought it was just bad luck that I was involved in the dispute between Ovitz and CAA. I didn't expect that the other party was actually playing such a big game. Compared to it, "The Incredible Hulk" is at best an appetizer."

There is a reason why Li Yu said this.

Today, Ovitz and Jamie came to visit together and chatted with Li Yu for nearly two hours. During this period, "The Incredible Hulk" was not mentioned at all, which shows that they did not take taking this project from Li Yu seriously at all.

Li Yu originally thought that he was the biggest victim of this incident, but he didn't expect that there was someone more unlucky than him.

If it weren't for Li Yu's former agent Karl Meyer, the other party would be considered a victim at best.

It’s Marvel COO David Messer.

Less than half a day after Universal announced that it had reached a preliminary agreement with the Marvel board of directors on the acquisition, the Marvel board of directors disclosed a new personnel change decision.

Announcing the resignation of David Messer as Chief Operating Officer.

According to Messer's previous contract with Marvel, not only did he not receive a penny in salary during his tenure at Marvel, but he also received no compensation when he resigned.

It's like I've been working for Marvel in vain for the past six months.

On the day of his resignation, Messer cursed Marvel Executive Chairman Palmette and Ovitz in a newspaper interview, saying that he was deceived by the two men's joint efforts.

But Messer chose to avoid talking about the reason for his resignation that everyone was really concerned about.

The unusual behavior caused a lot of speculation.

Until another piece of big news came out!

(End of this chapter)