Facing Li Ziwei's question, Li Mu replied with a smile: "The plot setting of the original "Infernal Affairs" is still very outstanding, sometimes a good story sells not the plot, but the setting. ”

"Sell the setting?" Li Ziwei was once again a little confused by Li Mu.

Li Mu smiled: "The setting is sometimes more valuable than the plot. ”

After that, Li Mu asked her: "You should have watched Spielberg's "Jurassic Park", right?"

"I've seen it and I'm impressed. ”

"Actually, this thing sells a setting, if I make a movie casually, there are a lot of dinosaurs in the real world, the audience will definitely ask what the hell is this routine? Isn't it too unreasonable to kill dinosaurs inexplicably? In that case, anyone can make a brainless and groundless dinosaur movie, and the setting of "Jurassic Park" gives a set of settings that can justify themselves, such as how did dinosaurs come about? Scientists found a prehistoric mosquito from an amber, and before this mosquito turned into amber, it happened to suck the blood of a dinosaur, so scientists extracted dinosaur DNA from its stomach, and then bred a dinosaur, this setting made the audience accept and amazed the audience, so it had a basis for success, and Hollywood next made a whole series around this setting, "Jurassic Park";

"I kind of get the ......"

"Do you know "Resident Evil" released last year?"

"Yes, I've seen it. ”

"Resident Evil is a game developed by a Japanese game company, and its core premise is that a company called Umbrella developed a virus that can turn people into zombies, and then the virus spread, and the whole world is scorched, and it is this core setting that makes players and audiences feel refreshed, so I believe that Hollywood will also be able to develop "Resident Evil" into a series. ”

Li Ziwei pondered for a moment and asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, the core setting of "Infernal Affairs" should be its first creation of the undercover vs. undercover story mode in which both black and white sides have placed undercover agents in each other's camps, right?"

"That's right!" Li Mu snapped his fingers and said with a smile: "In the past, most of these films with undercover elements were police officers going undercover in the bandits' camp and trying to find a way to wipe out the bandits, but in "Infernal Affairs" In the setting, the police sent an undercover agent to the bandit camp, and unexpectedly, the bandit also sent an undercover agent to the police's camp, if we call the traditional plot of the police undercover to the bandits a type A plot, then under normal circumstances, a class A plot can support a movie, but in this movie, a reversal plot diametrically opposed to A has been added, we can call it a class B plot;

In this way, "Infernal Affairs" has a different setting from previous police and gangster films, it has become a movie with a class A plot and a class B plot, and in the core setting of "Infernal Affairs", there is a very exciting setting, that is: the undercover of the police, and the undercover of the bandits, while completing the tasks required by their original undercover identities, they must also find each other out, which is equivalent to adding an AB plot to the A and B plots, which suddenly makes "Infernal Affairs" It has become a wonderful blockbuster with A, B and AB plots, which is the whimsy of Hong Kong screenwriters, and it is a very, very remarkable initiative, so I believe that the reason why Hollywood wants to buy the rights to this movie is because of the core setting of this genius, rather than the deepness, humanity and Buddhist fatalism behind it. ”

Li Ziwei felt that she had been successfully brainwashed by Li Mu, and this feeling was that no matter what Li Mu said, she would feel that it made sense......

At this time, Li Mu stretched his waist and said: "The original "Infernal Affairs" stands at the end of Chinese culture, but its core setting is actually very close to the front end, this set of settings can not only be understood by us, but every normal IQ audience over ten years old in the world should be able to understand it, so if I want to remake it, I must first refine its core setting, and the rest is to fill in the specific plot, so that it can be traced back to the front end of culture, to find more commonalities consistent with other peoples." ”

Saying that, Li Mu said: "For example, we can't let the characters, the plot and the tone of the whole story be too deep and gloomy, the relationship between the characters should be clear, the characters and contradictions should also be distinct, the good guys are good guys, the bad guys are bad guys, and the bad guys don't have to want to be a good guy in the end;

For example, we must implement simple, rough and direct display techniques, less showmanship, less sensationalism, and less transmission of personal values;

For example, we can't put anything Buddhist in a remake, or even any religious content that we should try to avoid.

For example, although good people can die tragically, we can't let bad people go unpunished......"

……

Huanya received the news from Muye's image, and they clearly conveyed Li Mu's attitude to the other party, which means that Huanya doesn't need to bargain with Li Mu anymore, because Li Mu doesn't want it anymore, even if it is given away for nothing.

Originally, Huanya still wanted to use the copyright in his hand to bargain with Li Mu, but unexpectedly, Li Mu directly rejected their request, and even withdrew the previous offer and terminated the cooperation.

Only then did Huanya figure out that they thought that the whole world wanted the overseas distribution rights of "Infernal Affairs", and Li Mu must be no exception, but Li Mu's interest in wanting this movie was really not as strong as they imagined.

Why?

Huanya is also pondering this question.

Li Mu is a god who can sell "Mr. Zombie" to more than 100 million dollars, "Infernal Affairs", the rescue work of Hong Kong movies for many years, is much better than "Mr. Zombie" in all aspects, why is Li Mu so uninterested in it?

However, if Li Muzhen is not interested in "Infernal Affairs", why would he spend $3.5 million to buy the English remake rights of "Infernal Affairs" from Warner?

When Uniasia was scratching his head for this problem, Li Mu was already in his office, holding a video conference with several heads of DreamWorks.

Spielberg was filming "Flying Tigers" in Yunnan Province, and specially arranged the filming rhythm of the day and took time to participate in this video conference.

As for the other DreamWorks leaders, in order to accommodate Li Mu's time, they had already gotten up at four o'clock in the morning local time in the United States, put on their ties, put on their suits, and sat in front of the computer.

The video conference uses the Pro version of YY group video, the so-called Pro version, which means Professional, that is, the so-called "professional version" in the software field, but the Pro version of the group video does not require users to download the YY client separately, and the Pro version of the group video uses an additional payment "value-added service" As long as the user purchases the upgrade service, he can enjoy a faster and more stable global video direct connection, like this across the ocean, the Pro version can achieve the greatest stability and smoothness.

As soon as the picture was passed, several Hollywood bigwigs greeted Li Mu one after another, Li Mu smiled and nodded in response, and after greeting a few people separately, Li Mu went straight to the point and said: "Everyone, the reason why I want to hold this video conference is because I am planning a film and television project recently, I think you should know that I have bought the English remake copyright of "Infernal Affairs" from Warner, and next, I am ready to start preparing for this project immediately, I wonder if DreamWorks is interested in cooperating with me?"

The CEO of DreamWorks immediately said: "Mr. Li, the willingness of DreamWorks and you to cooperate has always been very strong, and we also have the foundation of in-depth cooperation with Makino ticketing system, so no matter what film and television project you are planning to launch, Mr. Li, DreamWorks is willing to participate in it to a certain extent." ”

For the management of DreamWorks, they have long regarded Li Mu as the next key to DreamWorks' take-off, and the whole of Hollywood will do the same thing for such a big man who wants money and resources, that is, to firmly hold his thighs.

The management of DreamWorks very much wants to be tied to Li Muye's image, which also means that they can be deeply tied to Makino Technology and even Li Mu, so this is the critical moment for the watch's loyalty.

What Li Mu wanted was DreamWorks' attitude of "boss, I'll mess with you in the future", so he smiled with satisfaction and said, "Since that's the case, then I'll talk about the cooperation model first." ”

Several DreamWorks bigwigs nodded one after another: "Mr. Li, please speak." ”

Li Mudao: "First of all, I am going to tentatively set the budget of this film at 100 million US dollars, and I can give you a 50% discount, but your maximum proportion cannot exceed 25%, if you want to account for 25%, you must contribute 12.5% of the actual investment, and if you want to account for 20%, you will contribute 10%. ”

In the previous life, the investment in "The Departed" was 80 million US dollars, but there was a difference of two years, and the salary and inflation also had a certain impact, that is to say, if you also invest 80 million now, it will definitely have more purchasing power than 80 million two years later, and there is no need to add an additional 20 million costs, but in this life, Li Mu has increased the budget of a big name like Tom Hanks, and he has to increase some production expenses, so the increase of 20 million should be almost at the right level.

Leonardo and Tom Hanks lowered their salaries when they took over the filming of "Flying Tigers", which was the first time they cooperated with Li Mu, and it was also an attitude they gave Li Mu, but Li Mu must remember this love of others, so the remake of "Infernal Affairs", Li Mu plans to give the two of them a normal price salary, and at the same time give a small percentage of the box office share to the two, which can be regarded as reciprocating.

At this time, several people in DreamWorks whispered a few words to each other, and then the CEO spoke: "Mr. Li, how much we have, just listen to your instructions, as much as you say, we will enter, as for the investment discount, we thank you for your kindness, but in terms of long-term cooperation, DreamWorks can not always get this additional benefit from you, so we hope to contribute according to the normal proportion." ”

In this way, in order to ensure the realization of the first goal, he is naturally willing to lower the expectation of the second goal, unlike some greedy capitalists, who want to monopolize themselves no matter what benefits.

Filming the American version of "Infernal Affairs", Li Mu is not to make money, but to use this movie to win several awards at the Oscars, and to realize the Oscar dream on behalf of Huaxia Film and Television Company and Huaxia Capital, so he is willing to give DreamWorks a certain benefit tilt.

But DreamWorks itself also has its own plans, they don't want to take advantage of Li Mu once and run, but hope to be able to take his big boat and go further, the more so, the more they can't take advantage, so they also made it very clear that they are not willing to accept such a tilt of interests, as for the proportion, they also decided to respect Li Mu's meaning, because if they take more, Li Mu may not really be willing, but if they occupy less, Li Mu will also feel that his sincerity is not enough.

Li Mu was also very clear about their thoughts, nodded, and said: "Since this is the case, then I won't be polite to you, DreamWorks will invest 20% of the capital, and we will jointly produce and distribute it." ”

The CEO of DreamWorks immediately said, "OK!

Spielberg asked Li Mu: "Mr. Li, do you have any thoughts about the director of this play? I have seen Hong Kong's "Infernal Affairs", it is a good movie, but to be honest, this movie may not fit my style very well. ”

Li Mu nodded and said, "Steven, about the director, I want to find Martin Scorsese to direct, what do you think?"

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