They were all so into the drama!

Chapter 603 Another vacation...

This new 007 movie is called "Skyfall" and has a budget of 150 million US dollars.

It seems a lot, but it is actually 50 million US dollars less than the budget of the previous film "Quantum of Solace"!

007 movies are usually shot in foreign countries, and there are often big scenes such as explosions and car chases, so the cost is naturally high.

This is why MGM was heavily in debt before, and it was obvious that shooting a new 007 movie could alleviate the economic crisis, but it has not been able to start shooting.

Because MGM has no money!

The lack of money has caused the former MGM company to be unable to carry out effective self-rescue, and can only wait for bankruptcy liquidation, or wait for some sucker to take over.

If it weren't for Huo Mingjie, the "sucker", who showed up in time, allowing Shelf Pictures and MGM to merge and reorganize and sending hundreds of millions of US dollars in cash flow, the filming of this movie would really not be able to start...

The main filming location for this film was in the British Isles.

Originally, some scenes were planned to be shot in Shanghai.

After all, although most people in Hollywood look down on the mainland, they are honest and are jealous of the growing movie box office market in the mainland.

It's just that the so-called "respect" they show to mainland movie fans is mostly difficult to evaluate.

These people neither intend to patiently understand Chinese culture nor really want to please mainland audiences, but use an arrogant and almsgiving attitude.

The way they express "respect for the mainland" is just to emphasize where one of the shots was shot in the mainland.

Or find a mainland star to appear in the "mainland limited edition" of the movie for a few seconds...

However, this original plan was directly rejected at the high-level meeting!

"The scenes with Shanghai as the northern border are insignificant, and even a bit forced. The second generation of Dr. Q in the movie was played by Mr. Huo, which is enough to show our attention to the mainland."

In this script, James Bond followed the clues left by the villain and found Shanghai.

There are so many points!

The villain and the agent are both mentally ill, otherwise how dare they come to the mainland to make trouble? It is a little more reasonable to change it to Hong Kong Island...

This is a speechless operation made for the mainland market!

"So under the condition of low budget, the original plan to shoot in Shanghai should be overturned, and the budget should be put on increasing the quality of the film to the greatest extent!"

The person who said this was not someone else, but He Yuanyi, the "supervisor" sent by Huo Mingjie, one of the vice presidents of the new MGM.

Because the big boss behind is Chinese, it is not appropriate for Leon or Hamid to say such words.

Only He Yuanyi, who was also born in the mainland and was instructed by Huo Mingjie, could stand up!

After all, this sounds a bit wrong, giving people the feeling that Chinese actors can only play supporting roles.

But putting aside personal emotions, this is the reality of Hollywood today!

Let alone Chinese, even most Asian actors in Hollywood can only play insignificant supporting roles or clowns, and can't even hope to play a serious villain!

Like "Dr. Q", who appears in a hot IP, has a positive character image and can barely be regarded as the third male role, it is generally not the turn of Asian actors.

Otherwise, when the news that Huo Mingjie got this role was released, why did so many people want to grab the role.

Let the crew go to a foreign country for filming, there are too many twists and turns, and any link can get a lot of money.

The money for filming this time was all taken out of Huo Mingjie's pocket. Save and spend, don't let these foreign devils waste it!

Now the management rights of New MGM are in the hands of Huo Mingjie, and He Yuanyi represents Huo Mingjie's absolute confidant, so it is naturally his intention.

Since it is the intention of the new big boss, it is not easy for New MGM to object.

So the original plan was overturned, and those who needed to go to foreign countries to shoot, except for the essential shots, all the rest were changed to set-up shooting.

After confirming these rules, Huo Mingjie will also go to England with the crew to shoot.

Speaking of which, this is Huo Mingjie's second time to come to "Little Britain and the United Kingdom, which is almost without Northern Ireland."

The last time he came here was for "Inception".

And this time, it happened that Huo Mingjie came to shoot a movie and also chat with others about the new movie.

Leon's actions were very fast. After knowing that Huo Mingjie was interested in finding a suitable script, he began to help look for it everywhere.

The news in the circle was exchanged, and there were a lot of small and medium-cost idol love scripts.

Then, we have to select from these scripts, mainly those with previous fame and achievements.

Movies with this kind of theme will definitely not make as much money as those commercial blockbusters, so big companies like Warner will naturally not take it seriously, and the competition will not be that fierce.

So Leon quickly used his connections to find some suitable scripts and sent them to Huo Mingjie.

Huo Mingjie no longer had the ease he had when selecting scripts in the Mainland, so he had to use a professional team to evaluate, and then finally selected a script called "Time Traveler".

The reason why I chose this script is mainly because the screenwriter named "Richard Curtis" was once the screenwriter of "Mr. Bean".

Huo Mingjie didn't know anything else, but he still knew "Mr. Bean"!

This script tells the story of the male protagonist whose family has the ability to travel through time and space. The male protagonist, who has just grown up and is restless, decides to use this magical ability to fall in love and find a girlfriend...

Okay, let’s not say that the male protagonist has no ambitions, that’s not the case.

Mainly because his family elders had long used this special ability to acquire enough wealth and connections to squander but not too eye-catching.

The rich second generation who has superpowers and only wants to pick up girls...well, is looking for true love, so he is considered a good boy!

However, this seemingly typical start of a cool novel turns out to be different from what many people imagined.

Although the male protagonist is a restless little boy, he is unexpectedly innocent. After falling in love with the female protagonist, he refused all temptations.

Then he used his ability to travel through time and space to change some regrets, and even enjoyed life every day and gradually stopped using this ability...

The movie talks about love and family affection, giving people a warm and affectionate feeling.

In fact, to be honest, this type of movie deviates a bit from the original intention of filming idol love themes.

But this time-travel love theme, "The Time Traveler's Wife" was released just a few months ago, with a box office of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the movie's reputation is also good.

It can be regarded as making the subject of "time travel" popular, and people in the industry are quite optimistic about it.

Therefore, Leon strongly recommended this script, and Huo Mingjie thought it was quite good after reading it.

It happened that he was coming to England with the crew to shoot a movie this time, so he planned to stop by and meet the screenwriter.

Curtis, the screenwriter of this script, is a little old man with a typical British appearance, with a small head, narrow face, yellow hair and white skin.

When he saw Huo Mingjie, the little old man's eyes lit up. He couldn't help but glance at Huo Mingjie's face twice more, and then he immediately took the initiative to say hello to Huo Mingjie:

"Hello, handsome Mr. Huo!"

Even with the addition of modifiers, this little old man is quite interesting.

Hearing this, Huo Mingjie also shook hands with him politely, smiled, and then said:

"I'm glad you wanted to meet me, Mr. Curtis."

Before that, Huo Mingjie had already let Leon know that the protagonist of the script purchased this time was Huo Mingjie.

Although this industry is all about money, most screenwriters are here for the money.

But there are also quite a few screenwriters who feel that it is not friendly to their works to let a Chinese star who is not known to Europeans and Americans to star.

And the most important thing is that screenwriters who have such ideas are generally very capable!

Because of this, Huo Mingjie was actually optimistic about several other scripts at the same time, but they were declined by other screenwriters...

In fact, Curtis in front of him was a little hesitant at first, but after knowing that Huo Mingjie planned to come over in person, he was too embarrassed to refuse directly.

The identity of Huo Mingjie's new MGM major shareholder has not been announced to the public. But there is always news circulating privately in the circle, and Curtis knows some.

In Europe and the United States, Huo Mingjie, who has the blessing of a capital boss, is not a Chinese star who simply comes to Hollywood to make a career.

Taking the initiative to come over to meet Curtis is already considered a "corporal of courtesy"!

After the official meeting today, the little old man Curtis was quite surprised by Huo Mingjie's incredible appearance, and even couldn't help but get a little moved.

For a movie like this involving love themes, looks are really an important plus!

Huo Mingjie's appearance breaks through the limitations of different aesthetics between the East and the West. No matter where she is, she can attract a lot of brainless little girls, and then rely on her face to make a living...

Naturally, Huo Mingjie came here not alone. In order to win the script as much as possible, Lu Yuanyuan, who was specifically responsible for this matter, also brought people with him.

Just when Lu Yuanyuan was planning to use his abilities to communicate with Curtis, he saw the little old man who was still a little reluctant suddenly suddenly took the initiative and said:

"I still have some small ideas about the preparations for the crew. Who do I need to discuss specific matters with?"

Curtis also has a requirement for those who are willing to cooperate, that is, he must be the director of the movie.

But if the script is not even planned to be released, naturally there will be no preparation work for the crew.

Curtis's words actually indicate that he has agreed to cooperate with Green Shadow Media and New MGM to let Huo Mingjie play the leading role!

When Huo Mingjie saw Curtis Xia looking at him, his brows moved slightly.

Although gay culture is prevalent in the UK, this little old man has a wife and children, and was simply persuaded by Huo Mingjie's looks.

This little old man seems to be a pretty guy!

Lu Yuanyuan, who had already written a lot of drafts and was planning to show off his abilities in front of his boss, even felt a little empty at this time.

In China, his boss is so famous that in the Mainland entertainment industry, he has to pick out suitable scripts and roles first. This leaves Lu Yuanyuan with no room for him to express himself.

I originally thought that it would be difficult and challenging to carry out my work abroad this time, but I never expected that I would still be useless...

——

Even though the cooperation with Curtis was finalized, it was not possible to start filming immediately.

After all, after Huo Mingjie was confirmed to play the role, the script needed to be slightly modified to prevent certain settings and lines from conflicting with Huo Mingjie's Chinese face.

But Curtis, the old man, seemed quite excited.

According to him, changing the setting of the family's superpowers to a mysterious power from the East sounds more interesting...

Then there is the crew preparation, which also requires a certain amount of time. So in the end, the filming time of this movie was set to be three months later, and the filming will officially start after the film co-produced with South Korea is finished.

At this time, Huo Mingjie needs to participate in the filming work in the 007 crew.

In the crew, Huo Mingjie's Chinese face, which has never appeared in the previous series, is still quite conspicuous.

Not to mention Huo Mingjie's appearance, which has always attracted much attention.

When they were in the crew of Inception, some people were upset because Huo Mingjie was "lucky" to get a chance to act in the film and attracted the attention of all the women in the crew during the filming.

But this time it was a film invested by the new MGM, and most of the filming team were former employees of Sherford Pictures.

Huo Mingjie, the big boss behind the scenes, naturally could not be treated unfairly by the crew, and was even treated blatantly.

In order to make Huo Mingjie as convenient as possible, the crew even modified the arrangement of "James Bond"!

This is almost undisguised partiality and care, which directly shows the attitude of the company.

So even if Huo Mingjie's identity was not made public and he was just an unknown Chinese actor on the surface, no one dared to cause trouble to him.

After all, the "second-generation Dr. Q" played by Huo Mingjie was just the assistant of the male protagonist.

In the 007 movies that pay the most attention to personal heroism, only James Bond has the most scenes.

Moreover, the crew tried to arrange his scenes first, which resulted in Huo Mingjie shooting for a week with ease, and his scenes were almost finished.

The remaining scenes still needed to wait for the arrival of other actors.

In this way, Huo Mingjie actually got a vacation in England for a while...

Regarding this unexpected vacation, Huo Mingjie turned his head to look at the foreign girl next to him, raised his eyebrows and asked:

"I heard from your agent that you seem to plan to take a trip here during the break of filming..."