The next morning, Ronan met in the office with someone recommended by Joss Whedon, not a stranger, Alfonso Cuarón, a director from Mexico who had previously directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Once, he was also one of the famous Mexican three heroes in Hollywood directorial circles.

It is Alfonso Cuarón who has a hard sci-fi project in his hands that requires a huge investment.

Ronan is looking through the script, just like Joss Whedon said, the script is very thin, the story is simple and outrageous, and it makes people feel that the script is there and there is no difference.

For new directors and screenwriters, this is the type that film companies throw into the script library and don't want to deal with it for ten years.

That is, Alfonso Cuarón has a lot of fame.

Dozens of pages of script, Ronan quickly turned to the last page, the story of the script is very simple, an astronaut encounters an accident on the space station and tries to return to Earth from space.

Ronan closed the script and asked, "I heard Joss Whedon say that you recommended this project to Warner Bros."

"Yes, but they refused. Alfonso Cuarón put it simply: "Jonas, my son, and I finished the script in 2006, and shortly after the production of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I approached Warner Bros. to pitch the project. ”

He was a little helpless: "Warner Bros. is not very optimistic, and has a big opinion on the hard sci-fi genre and simple scripts, and in the end did not agree with me. ”

Ronan has seen this film and is quite impressed, as if this project was also repeatedly tossed by Warner Bros. many times before it was finally established.

"It's like a space version of 'Desert Island Aftermath.' Ronan said.

Alfonso Cuarón said: "Almost, the theme of this project is actually the human resistance to the impossible. Space movies have been around Hollywood for decades, and space travel has been somewhat overshadowed, perhaps in part because movies make us wonderful. ”

After a moment's thought, he added: "In order to make the audience as immersive as possible, during the creation of the script, I looked up a lot of astronauts' information and communicated with them. ”

Relativity Entertainment just promoted the "Martian" project some time ago, and Ronan knows very well that if these hard sci-fi films want to be filmed well, they can't just be based on imagination, they must conform to scientific reality, at least they must look like that.

Ronan asked directly, "How much budget is needed?" ”

Alfonso Cuarón is honest about this, "The film needs to be shot on green screen and CG throughout, and I want to use 3D and IMAX technology, which is about $150 million. ”

Ronan can roughly guess why Warner Bros. is reluctant to take over the Alfonso Cuarón project, and investing heavily in hard sci-fi or original films, by Hollywood standards, is too risky.

Alfonso Cuarón glanced at Ronan: "Mr. Anderson, I ...... this project"

Truth be told, he and his son were hit by Warner Bros., and if it weren't for his good friend Joss Wheddon's recommendation to try Relativity Entertainment, he would have been ready to shoot other movies.

"Relativity Entertainment invested in a hard sci-fi project some time ago. Ronan slapped the script next to him: "I'm more interested in this kind of realistic science fiction movie. ”

What I heard was not a refusal, Alfonso Cuarón was a little relieved, and the hard sci-fi project that Ronan said, he had also heard people talk about, seemed to be about Mars exploration.

This is also an important reason why he is willing to try Relativity Entertainment, after all, Relativity Entertainment has a precedent for investment recently.

In today's Hollywood, there are only a few companies that are willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on original realistic hard science fiction projects, but there are also very few.

Ronan said: "After reading the script, I have a suggestion. ”

Alfonso Cuarón looked at Ronan, after all, Ronan's fame is here, and the so-called advice is difficult not to be taken seriously.

Ronan didn't go around in circles, and said directly: "I suggest replacing the male protagonist with a female." ”

"Female?" Alfonso Cuarón frowned slightly.

Ronan simply explains: "Men and women represent very different meanings on the big screen, men are inherently synonymous with tenacity and strength in the film, while women represent weakness and are the objects to be protected. If the first protagonist of this project is a man, the shock of self-help will definitely not be as powerful as that of a woman. ”

Alfonso Cuarón seriously thought about Ronan's words, such a one-man show-like film, the main character is more attractive to men, after all, in the traditional Hollywood company, male films are far more popular than women's films.

He took this into account when he wrote the script, the project did not have any creativity in terms of plot, it is not too much to say that there is no plot, the film mainly relies on two points to generate attraction, one is excellent special effects, and the other is the performance of the actors.

"I need to think about it seriously. "Alfonso Cuarón did not make an immediate decision.

Ronan nodded and said, "No problem. He knew that this project was "Gravity", so he quickly made a decision: "Director Caron, Relativity Entertainment can invest in your project, and the specific aspect of Shahai Entertainment will talk to you." ”

Alfonso Cuarón smiled and said, "Thank you, I would also very much like to work with Relativity Entertainment. ”

This result can be said to be very ideal.

Ronan left the script and asked Connie to find someone to take Alfonso Cuarón and the following Shahai Entertainment to have preliminary negotiations with the person in charge of the specific production of the film project.

Filming of Ridley Scott's "The Martian" has already begun, and this project is working closely with NASA, and with a "Gravity", there will be no difficulty.

"Gravity" is not a sci-fi movie like "Transformers" or "Star Wars" after all, and it is necessary to reduce the unrealistic aspects of it, NASA is undoubtedly the most authoritative organization, if you can get their support, from preparation to shooting to post-production, it will definitely reduce a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Ronan recalls the movie again, and I can't remember the box office situation, but the movie was undoubtedly a success, because he still has an impression of two related things.

One is that Alfonso Cuarón won the Oscar for Best Director with "Gravity", and then there was the statement of the three Mexican giants, and on the other hand, Sandra Bullock, who played the heroine, climbed to the first place in the Hollywood actress income list with "Gravity", and the news circulating on the Internet is that for this movie alone, Sandra Bullock has earned more than $70 million even from the basic salary plus the post-production share.

If Alfonso Cuarón follows the advice and changes the actor to the female lead, the cast will already be available.

Ronan remembers that when Jessica Filton approached Sandra Bullock to star in "Spicy Hand Police Flower", she directly asked Shahai Entertainment to sign a three-film contract with her, and Lasandra Bullock played the heroine, which was basically no difficulty.

The biggest selling point of the film is the special effects and the heroine's self-help, Sandra Bullock holding the role is not a big problem.

Of course, the more important thing is the special effects.

It is no exaggeration to say that space is the ultimate dream of all mankind, and even for the dream machine of film, it is no easy task to create real space on the silver screen.

Alfonso Cuarón soon reached a cooperation agreement with Shahai Entertainment, and also made certain adjustments to the script, the biggest of which was to replace the male protagonist with the female lead.

With the signing of the agreement, Ronan and Alfonso Cuarón had more exchanges about the project, especially in terms of special effects.

When the space environment of "Gravity" is presented on the IMAX screen, for the audience sitting in the dark wearing 3D glasses, it is no less than an interstellar journey, only most of the scenes inside the space station are shot in the built set, and the realistic feeling of outer space actually needs to rely on CG to achieve, and all the space footage is synthesized by CG.

In addition, with the communication of Relativity Entertainment, NASA also provided Alfonso Cuarón with a lot of first-hand information.

It will take time for the project to be ready on the ground, and Alfonso Cuarón has a lot of preliminary work to do.

For example, interviewing NASA astronauts, reading and watching various facts and videos about space, and studying thousands of photos taken in space, to learn about space.

Since it is a realistic hard sci-fi genre, a lot of attention has to be paid to the details, and as Alfonso Cuarón himself said, the future needs to ensure that the images in every shot are based on reality.

Gravity is undoubtedly a complex project, and the creative integration of virtual and live-action footage further complicates it.

If this project wants to be released, it will be in 2010 at the earliest.

Hard sci-fi projects are time-consuming and labor-intensive in comparison.

Superhero movies are much better, and Joss Whedon's "The Avengers" ended all footage before August arrives and will soon move on to post-production.

However, the cast of the Avengers will not have too long of a vacation, as a series of Marvel projects await them.

Boiled Eggs, Agent Hill and the Novice Village Chief, who will then star in the series "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Jon Favreau has already started preparations for "Iron Man 3", and Robert Downey Jr. is about to devote himself to the filming of this movie after a short vacation.

The rest of "Thor 2" and "Captain America 2" have also started script writing and early planning.

The latter will be a very important link, and the reputation of Hydra's S.H.I.E.L.D. branch has also spread all over the world through "Captain America 2".

In "Avengers 4" that year, Captain America said "Long live Hydra", and I don't know how many people climaxed directly in the theater.

There is also "Galaxy Comic Team", which is also being formed by Marvel Entertainment, and will use some of the actors of "Fast and Furious".

For example, Gianna, an international superstar named by South Korean media, has been confirmed to play the role of Gamora, a green-skinned girl.