The Best Director

Chapter 187: Three years have arrived

On the eve of the release of Memento during the Halloween schedule in November 2011, Wang Yang agreed to invest in the new work project of Christopher Nolan and his wife in his living room. Yi Wan adapted the biographical novel Howard Hughes: A Secret Life and produced a film about this The biopic Mr. Hughes about the first half of the tycoon's life.

At that time, Nolan was just a cutting-edge director who received a lot of praise at Sundance and other film festivals, but there were not a few of those directors. He never proved his earning ability, so the industry thought that Mr. Hughes The plan is just a hype for Flame Films to create momentum for Memory Fragments. But it turns out that there is no such thing. In the five years since its establishment, Flame Movie has only engaged in viral marketing, but has never been hyped.

It was also under the excellent viral marketing that Memory Fragments, which cost 10,000 purchases, finally sold a box office of 84.11 million worldwide, becoming a commercial miracle at that time.

Now when the media are counting the Ten Standout Films of the Sundance Film Festival, Quentin Tarantino's famous work Reservoir Dogs usually ranks first, and the second is Sex, Lies and Videotape, followed by Four Weddings and a Funeral, Assassin's Elegy, Crazy Clerk... and Memory Fragments and Death Illusion. inside.

The success of Memory Fragments allowed Nolan to realize his potential, but the filmmakers felt that he should continue to make thriller and suspense films instead of biopics. For example, several small independent production companies such as Alcon Entertainment and Eighth Unit jointly invested in the remake of White Night Chase, and invited him to direct. Of course, he was busy with the production of Mr. Hughes and did not make it; He also handed over the director microphone of White Night Chase to Jonathan Demme.

After half a year to complete the preliminary preparations such as the script, crew, and setting, Mr. Hughes took nearly 5 months to shoot, plus post-production special effects production, editing and soundtrack, etc., and it was officially completed in May 2. Get rid of all the flowers.

The publicity work has been going on all the time. Flame Films gave it a publicity budget of -10,000, plus other miscellaneous expenses such as copies, and the total cost was controlled at 100 million US dollars.

This also means that if you only rely on box office revenue, you need 250 million worldwide to recover the cost, but the box office target of Flame Movie is not so high. As long as the global box office can reach 150-200 million, you will be very satisfied. Because there are other peripheral incomes, if this is a classic biographical film, it is not a problem to make a sum of money from DVDs, original sound CDs, etc. that add up to enough money to cover the cost.

However, Flame Movie has obtained the copyright of a classic movie with a cost of 10,000 yuan. In the next ten years, it will provide a long-term stable income bit by bit in terms of copyright fees such as TV-on-demand and rental. This kind of long-term business is a magic weapon for many companies to survive. Relying on these copyright fees one by one every year is enough to maintain the company's operating expenses.

Seems guaranteed against going into debt and going out of business, unless a big investment loses so much that the underwear is gone.

In the publicity plan formulated by the Ministry of Finance, the focus of the film's publicity is not on the director Nolan, but on Jim Carrey, who starred Howard Hughes. I don't know how Nolan persuaded him to agree to play, but the media and Fans were surprised from the beginning that Howard Hughes was indeed a weirdo, but not the kind of guy who ripped his mouth out of a big hole with his hands. How is this going?

Of course, in fact, Jim Carrey has been seeking transformation. He has had enough success in comedy, and then he naturally wants those golden trophies. The drama The Truman Show brought him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series, and comedian Andy Kaufman's biopic The Man on the Moon gave him another MTV Movie Award The cupboard has an extra bottle of Golden Globes for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical, but he wants an Oscar.

It's just that Mr. Hughes did not get a single nomination on the list of Golden Globe nominations announced a week ago, as if announcing the end of the journey to hit various awards, perhaps because of the 6 episodes of The Ninth District and The Hangover. Nominations have reached the cap of an independent film company, and Mr. Hughes has only been selectively ignored.

However, it cannot be said that Mr. Hughes is over like this. After all, the Golden Globes do not have technical awards, and the number of judges is far from that of the Oscars.

On Friday, December 27th, with the arrival of the weekend, Mr. Hughes was officially released on a large scale in 2,675 theaters in North America. As the chairman and star of Flame Films, Wang Yang joined hands with Jessica to attend the screening of the film to help Nolan, Jim Carrey and others.

The screening hall of the Shenandoah Theater was full of seats, and there was a light and heavy classical soundtrack. The audience quietly watched the images on the big screen. The color style of the screen was very dark, with a style of the Great Depression era. Kim Carrey, who plays Howard Hughes, stepped out of a black car and headed for the RKO building, wearing a perfectly ironed suit.

Nolan and other film creators sat in the front row, while Wang Yang and Jessica sat in some guest areas at the back, but the viewing angle was better. Jessica suddenly leaned her head together with great interest and whispered: Yang, if you also iron your clothes straight all day long, you will be more like Howard Hughes. Wang Yang turned his head and glanced at her, his gaze returned Back on the screen, she said, I can't be that kind of person, I can't fly a plane. Jessica smiled and continued watching the movie.

She joked this way because some media said that Fantastic Young is a legend like Howarth Hughes. Of course, Magic Young was not born with a golden key in his mouth, and he didn’t have a large family inheritance; but the young director of Magic, the youngest billionaire, and his unique investment in emerging bloggers after the tech dotcom bubble burst, all have Hughes style of.

The gger website has been selected as the coolest website in 2 years by Fortune magazine. This title represents the prospect and value, and it is a product that companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google are rushing to acquire. In fact, the number of registered bloggers of gger has already exceeded 10 million, and now it has grown to more than 10,000. It also uses the background management software function to realize income, and is preparing for a comprehensive upgrade, freer and more powerful template editing function, blog Services such as photo albums, blog groups... It is becoming a pivotal website on the Internet.

And I don't want to be a lunatic. Wang Yang turned to look at Jessica again.

Howard Hughes, because of his severe cleanliness and obsessive-compulsive disorder, became a weirdo in his middle and late years. He used milk bottles to store urine and tissue boxes to make shoes... Married and divorced three times, with no children, his old age was very bleak. He passed away on the plane when he was 12 years old. His face was unrecognizable due to years of insomnia, and even fingerprint identification was required to confirm that the old man was Howard Hughes. God knows how he made himself like that?

I'm going to have a bunch of kids. Wang Yang stretched out his right hand, pressed Jessica's flat stomach under her black evening dress with his palm, and said with a smile, I'm going to book two now, a little girl and a little boy. Jessica She smiled softly, and when he finished speaking, she turned her attention back to the screen. She patted his right hand and muttered in her heart: But you haven't done anything yet.

She looked at the big screen in front of her, but gradually lost her mind, and a beautiful silver ring appeared in front of her eyes...

The time passed by every minute and every second, and soon the 2 hours and 15 minutes of the movie were all played. Amidst the melancholy music, the credits rolled up on the screen, and the audience at the Shenandoah Theater suddenly cheered. Wang Yang also clapped his hands vigorously, smiling and looking at the creators of the film crew who got up to thank him. This is a very good movie with a very contemporary flavor. The pain is expressed vividly.

After the screening, the creators of Mr. Hughes, guests and friends came to the hotel to hold a dinner party. In the lively banquet hall, everyone laughed and walked around, and the rich food and drinks on the table were taken casually.

Wang Yang and Jessica were chatting with the Nolans. Holding a high-heeled glass, he took a sip of the slightly sweet wine and said with a smile, Chris, you brought us a masterpiece. Nolan with side parting had a faint smile on his face; Emma Thomas, who was wearing a long red dress, was apologetic, and said with a smile: But maybe the box office is not so good.

No, no, don't talk about it now. Wang Yang shook his head slightly when he heard the words. This movie is indeed too literary and does not have the characteristics of ordinary box office hits, but he believes that it will not be too low. A good movie to watch with gusto.

In fact, he knows that no matter whether Mr. Hughes ends up making money or losing money, as long as the Nolans are eager to continue the production of the second half, he will nod in agreement. From a commercial point of view, he knows where Nolan's potential and abilities are going better than anyone else. The best relationship between Flame Films and this talented director is very beneficial to future development, even if it loses some money now. Money is also a long-term investment.

From a film perspective, he feels that Nolan's film is like trying his hand, laying the groundwork and accumulating something. The fully mature lower part is likely to become a hit classic, and naturally there will be no losses; From the perspective of an ordinary viewer, he wants to watch the next part. These three reasons were reasons he couldn't refuse. He smiled and said, Chris, let's put it this way, if you have confidence, I have confidence.

Well, I know. Nolan nodded, grateful in his heart, but who wants to be a box office poison director? Anyway, he doesn't want to be able to be a hit at the box office, but also to be able to tell what he wants to say, that is his goal. Nolan frowned in confusion, and asked, I've been thinking recently, how to strike a balance between business and art? How can I do it?

Wang Yang thought for a while, how to do it? It has the influence of publicity, the words of the movie itself... He shrugged his shoulders and said seriously: Be-L, I think so. Jessica glanced at him with a smile, Nolan looked thoughtful, Wang Yang Continued: The name of the movie must be cool, the poster must be cool, the story setting must be cool, the picture composition must be cool, and the shooting technique must be cool... Everything, when all these are done, it must be a commercial film; but what it tells The theme is what everyone calls art.

He shook his glass and took another sip of wine, said: I mean, a theme can be made by a bunch of old men like Jack Nicholson in a madhouse; The guys from the shopping mall Taobao Women's Winter Coat m made it out in the intense and exciting fighting explosion. Of course, the former can concentrate on one thing and can reach the extreme; The holy king of Wudong Qiankun made the holy king, the king will kill the gods and seal the throne at night, seek the demon, proud of the world, the strongest abandoned young man, the royal family of Zhou, kill the gods and seal the throne at night, seek the magic, proud of the world, the strongest abandoned young man, the royal family of Zhou, the martial arts universe, general night God-killing God Seal Throne Begging Demons Aoshi Ninth Heaven's Strongest Abandoned Young Master Zhou Royal Family's God-Creating General Night Killing God's Seal Throne Begging Demons Aoshi Nine Heavens Strongest Abandoned Young Da Zhou Royal Family, Go to Yahoo Google Search what they want to know...

Expressing profound themes in a commercial form and opening up the audience's thinking space, Nolan has already thought about these two points, and also tried the latter in Memento. But the simple sentence before made him feel like he was getting an electric shock, and his heart beat faster. What kind of business form? In addition to the narrative method and editing techniques, how to make the audience's brains move?

Nolan took a deep breath and murmured: Be-L, Be-L... Story setting, screen composition, shooting techniques... Many vague thoughts on the movie name poster suddenly became clear, and he couldn't help but excitedly He laughed, his face was full of exaggerated expressions, he lost his long-term gentlemanly demeanor for a while, he laughed and said: Yes, you are right to be cool and special. He laughed again, and said: That's right. Yes, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm going to think about it.

With a smile on his face immersed in the pleasure of thinking, he turned and walked towards the bathroom. It was so simple, why did he figure it out now? He beat his palms while walking, and smiled to himself: Be-netbsp; Oh, he's really... Emma Thomas looked at her husband who was walking away, and said with apologetic smile, Excuse me, I'll go see what's wrong with him. After that, she quickly chased Nolan with her handbag.

Jessica's black eyes were full of inexplicable surprise. She looked at Wang Yang, asked with a curious smile, What does this mean? Is it just to be cool? The reaction would be so big, he smiled and said: I don't know, I just said it casually.

Sometimes a person wanders outside a door for a long time, and then someone accidentally gives him a key, and he opens the door and walks in. As for what is behind the door, only he himself will know.

But you can understand it this way, just play cool. If you can play a commercial film so that the audience thinks you are cool, you win. Wang Yang said and walked to the long table full of food, drank half a glass of wine, his stomach Feeling a little hungry. Jessica followed behind him, and said with a smile, Yan, tell me I want to be a director too.

The day after its release, most of the film critics and movie fans gave Mr. Hughes a good review, and it got the score on the main page of ImdB, which is not enough for a literary biopic released High, but good enough to be labeled an excellent film; Rotten Tomatoes has a 85% Critics Freshness rating, 82% Famous Freshness rating, and 76% Audience Love rating.

It was praised for its period details, performances by actors such as Jim Carrey, and its quick-talking but well-organized narrative style; but as a literary film, The Washington Post Joe Thomson said: It tells a story very well, but it's just a story, Christopher Nolan seems to be fascinated by the mysterious Howard Hughes, he spends the whole movie building characters and telling their past, but forgets to tell everyone Order something.

Maybe the audience just like to tell the story well, and with the popularity of Howard Hughes and Jim Carrey, the box office performance of Mr. Hughes is not as bad as Emma Thomas thought. When December 27-29 The last weekend of No. 2 years came to an end. Mr. Hughes took the fourth place in 2675 theaters, and it is expected to receive 10,000 box office for the week, which has fully met the expectations of the flame movie.

After all, a movie usually has a screening week, and the North American box office of Mr. Hughes has a good chance to receive 10,000-100 million; plus overseas markets that have not yet been released, it is not out of reach to reach 150-200 million worldwide. number.

And the movie that occupies the top spot in the box office rankings this weekend continues to be the second and hilarious The Hangover, which took away 34.49 million box office in North America; The result took away the third place. After that, Mr. Hughes, Personal Lover, Manhattan Cinderella...

The 31st is the last day of 2 years. There are countdown activities to celebrate the arrival of the New Year all over the world, including Times Square in New York and Las Vegas Boulevard in the desert oasis.

At this time under the night, the high-rise buildings on both sides of the avenue are brightly lit, and the long and wide avenue is full of people, and there are tourists who come to participate in the New Year's carnival everywhere. When the New Year's bell rings, everyone in the casino will toast at the same time, drinking the fine wine to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.

Compared with last year, the number of tourists who choose to come to the casino for carnival has increased significantly this year, perhaps due to the influence of The Hangover. Among the dense crowd, there were laughter and shouts from time to time: This time for Vegas, For 3 years...

Wang Yang and Jessica, who were on the avenue, were also holding champagne. At this time, they saw a group of six or seven young people in front of them. They all held champagne bottles high. One of the golden and white boys laughed and said: : Let's drink this down in one gulp Let's get drunk for Vegas, for our friends, for 'The Hangover'...for a Happy New Year

The two couldn't help looking at each other and smiling. Seeing them clinking bottles and drinking heavily, Wang Yang and Jessica also held up small bottles of champagne and touched each other, laughing and shouting together: For The Hangover, for Happy New Year! The two of them raised their heads and took a big sip. Under the colorful light, seeing that there was some wine on her lips, Wang Yang reached out to help her wipe it off, and said with a smile, It's really like a drunkard. Jessica also reached out her hand to help him wipe the corners of her mouth, and said with a slightly curved eyebrow: The same to you

, 9, 8—— At this time, the sky above Las Vegas suddenly changed from a faintly audible to a deafening New Year's countdown sound. The big TV shouted the countdown: 7, 6, 5—— Wang Yang and Jessica looked up at the sky arm in arm, waiting for the fireworks to appear, and shouted with everyone around, 4, 3 , 2, 1 Happy New Year—”

Bang bang——With the loud noise of fireworks rising into the sky, various beautiful flames, blue, red, yellow, green and other colorful silk threads appeared in the dark sky Intertwined, spread out and fell like an umbrella; bang bang, a fire ball in the shape of a big red ball illuminated the whole sky like daytime; bang bang——

Wow wow wow - the tourists on the avenue yelled frantically, and there were people laughing and clinking glasses to drink, and there were many laughter: Dude, drink it up, Hahaha, look at mine... Wang Yang and Jessica also took another sip, looked at each other's burning eyes, embraced and kissed each other, and they walked for another year

3 years, officially arrived

Wow, I just found out that drinking wine ss feels good, and I can taste two kinds of wine at the same time. Wang Yang let go of her, and said huh as if aftertaste. Jessica rolled her eyes and said with a smile: You can taste ten kinds of stupid cocktails at the same time. Wang Yang patted his forehead, and Jessica said with great interest: Where shall we go next? You said we can do it in one night How many things?

Looking around at the crowd around him, listening to the joyful and noisy laughter, Wang Yang laughed loudly and said, Many, many, many -- let's see what our crazy night can do. Let's go to the casino first. Jessica He waved the wine bottle in his hand and shouted: Out!

Under the bright yellow lights, the hotel casino is more lively than the avenue outside. Various gambling entertainment facilities and gaming tables are surrounded by shouting guests, and chips and coins are constantly being thrown. The two people who came to the casino were also part of it, blackjack? Texas Hold'em? Stud? Big roulette? No, Wang Yang took Jessica to the slot machine that Jeff Ma said that's gambling. Since you want to gamble, then be a full-fledged gambler

Jesus spit out the money for me, come out for me... Gritting her teeth, Jessica stuffed another coin into the slot machine, pulled down the lever with both hands, and kept slapping the fuselage nervously. Wang Yang looked at her crazy look, and wanted to ask, Did Jesus actually allow his disciples to gamble?

But both of them slowly widened their eyes and held their breath, only to see that the reels of the slot machine stopped one by one after spinning for a while, and a third grid was still rolling, da da da da...