Martin Scorsese and Spielberg are two directors with very different styles.

In terms of film art, Martin Scorsese is purer than Spielberg, and Spielberg is one of Hollywood's most successful commercial directors, far above Martin Scorsese in terms of ability to make money.

Although the two have different styles, this does not prevent the two from having a very good friendship in private, so discussing with Martin Scorsese the task of taking over the American version of "Infernal Affairs" naturally fell on Spielberg.

Spielberg deliberately waited until after nightfall to call Martin Scorsese, and it was already morning in the United States on the other side of the phone, and Martin Scorsese was enjoying coffee and reading the newspaper at his home in Los Angeles, when he suddenly received a call from Spielberg, which surprised him.

Answering the phone, Martin Scorsese opened his mouth and asked with a smile: "Steven, Huaxia should be at night now, right?"

"That's right. Spielberg laughed: "If you have the chance, you should really come here to experience it, I shoot in the mountains, and the natural scenery here is really amazing." ”

"Oh come on," Martin Scorsese quipped...... "I don't want to toss in the mountains, I am not as young as you." ”

Spielberg laughed, "The two of us are only four years apart." ”

Martin Scorsese smiled and asked him, "Call me halfway around the world, you don't just want to talk to me, do you?"

Spielberg said, "To tell you the truth, I called because I wanted to work with you on a project. ”

"Oh?" asked Martin Scorsese curiously, "Is it related to the movie?"

"Of course. Spielberg said: "Li Mu, the boss of Makino Technology, bought the remake rights to "Infernal Affairs" from Warners and wants you to direct it. ”

Martin Scorsese asked in surprise: "Li Mu, my God, is that Chinese man Li Mu, who has a net worth of hundreds of millions at a young age?"

"That's right, it's him. Spielberg smiled: "You should know that our cooperation with Li Mu is still relatively close, and the movie I am making now is also invested by Li Mu." ”

"I know, "Flying Tigers"!" Martin Scorsese said: "I also heard others talk about it yesterday, saying that Warner bought the remake rights of a Hong Kong movie for $1.75 million, but it didn't take long for someone to buy it back for double the price, it should be the "Infernal Affairs" you said, right?"

Spielberg smiled and said: "Your news is quite bright, that's right, it's this film, Li Mu wants to invest and distribute it with DreamWorks, I don't know if you're interested?"

Martin Scorsese said: "Frankly speaking, I am of course very interested in working with people like Li Mu, but I am not very interested in remaking movies, and besides, it is better to remake a Chinese movie, their film industry level is much worse than ours......

Spielberg asked Martin Scorsese, "Martin, have you seen this movie?"

"Not yet. ”

"Then you can take a look first. Spielberg said: "You take a moment to watch it first, and I feel that the theme of this movie is a police movie, and the setting is very brilliant, I believe you will like it." ”

Martin Scorsese thought for a moment and said, "This ...... I'm actually working on a film project about Howard Hughes right now, and if the preparation goes well, maybe it will start filming next year, maybe there will be a conflict in time, right?"

Spielberg said: "Martin, put Howard Hughes back for a while, you can shoot his story whenever you want, but Li Mu's cooperation opportunities are now in front of you, you should also know that cooperating with Li Mu can get a lot of powerful resources, this is an excellent opportunity, if you don't believe it, look at the Makino ticketing system, DreamWorks has a stake in the Makino ticketing system in North America, these are the resources obtained from Li Mu after cooperating with Li Mu." ”

Martin Scorsese suddenly fell into a tangle, about Howard Hughes's movie, in fact, he has wanted to make it for a long time, this time is in the early stage of preparing to put theory into practice, if he takes over Li Mu's film at this time, it will undoubtedly have to postpone the film he wants to make.

However, Spielberg is right, Li Mu's resources are strong, even top billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, the resources in the media and entertainment industry may not be comparable to Li Mu, if you can get a relationship with him, you will definitely get a great return on resources in the future, so this is definitely a rare opportunity.

However, Martin Scorsese still feels a little uncomfortable about remaking a Hong Kong movie, because he is worried that this is a film project prepared by Li Mu as a Chinese and a rich Chinese man, deliberately throwing money into the film project prepared for the impact of Chinese films on Hollywood, if this is the case, then he will become a springboard for Chinese films to enter Hollywood, and he is also a super first-line director in Hollywood, if he really destroys his reputation and goes to endorse Chinese movies, then he will inevitably be ridiculed by Hollywood in the future......

Listening to Martin Scorsese on the other end of the phone, Spielberg probably understood what he was worried about, so he said: "Martin, I'm not advising you to say yes now, but I hope you can put aside your prejudices and learn about this cooperation project, at the very least, you should find a copy of "Infernal Affairs" Copy, watch this movie from beginning to end, I personally think that this movie is very suitable for you to direct, and I believe that with your ability, you can create a new height for this movie, and you can also create a new height for yourself through this movie, so you must watch it first, after watching it, if you are really not interested, I will not force it. ”

Martin Scorsese thought about it, Spielberg said so, if he still hesitated, it was really not true, so he agreed, and said, "I'll go find a copy today." ”

Spielberg said: "The film has not been released on DVD in the United States, but several major studios, including Warner, should have copies from Hong Kong studios, and you can borrow them from them." ”

“OK。 Martin Scorsese said: "I'll call later and watch the movie as soon as possible." ”

……

When Martin Scorsese got the copy, it was nine o'clock in the evening U.S. time.

He called a film company that cooperated closely with him to look for it, and the relevant staff of the other party searched for a day in the warehouse before finding a copy of the Hong Kong version of "Infernal Affairs" in an inconspicuous corner.

Martin Scorsese then sent his assistant to drive across Hollywood, retrieve the copy from the other company, and then cross the whole of Hollywood to deliver it to himself.

At this time, it was the morning of the next day of Huaxia time, and the DVD sent by Makino Image from Yanjing to Spielberg was delivered to Spielberg in less than 24 hours after the express delivery of Taobao 9 logistics, air and land transportation.

It just so happened that today's filming location was not beautiful, and I was supposed to shoot the exterior of the pilots at the airstrip, but a light rain began to fall in the early morning, and there was no intention of stopping.

The whole crew rested and waited in the rest area near the filming location.

Spielberg saw that the rain couldn't stop for a while, so he said to Ning Hao, the assistant director in charge of the work: "Ning, it seems that the morning shooting is in vain, you help me inform everyone, the staff will rest in place and stand by, and the actors can go back to the hotel to rest first." ”

Ning Hao nodded and hurriedly went to order.

Spielberg beckoned Leonardo and Tom Hanks and said, "If it's okay, let's go to my office and watch a movie together?"

The crew chartered half of the county party committee guest house in this small county town in the mountains, and the conditions were limited, but even so, a few rooms were still freed up for the crew to use as an office, and the crew held meetings, directors and reviewed, all in the office, and Spielberg also had his own independent office, which was fully equipped.

Leonardo and Tom Hanks didn't know why Spielberg wanted the two to go to the office to watch a movie, but they knew that with Spielberg's professionalism, it would definitely not be leisure and entertainment, it must be related to work, so the two agreed without hesitation.

When Spielberg, Leonardo and Tom Hanks came to the office, Martin Scorsese, who was far away in Hollywood, had just gotten the copy, and he took the copy to the basement of his villa, where he specially built a screening room, which was completely equipped with high-end cinema projection and sound equipment.

However, the three Spielbergs, who were in the guest house of the county party committee in the mountainous area of Yunnan Province, were in much more humble condition, and could only rely on a small professional monitor and a DVD to watch the film.

Martin Scorsese has never seen "Infernal Affairs", he has not even understood this movie, he has many Hollywood directors and actors, and always feels that the best movies and filmmakers in the world are in Hollywood, so he has a sense of disdain for non-Hollywood films and crews.

Leonardo and Tom Hanks haven't seen this movie either, and when the DVD plays the opening credits of Huanya, when the two saw the Chinese text on the screen, they asked Spielberg in surprise: "Is this a Chinese movie?"

Spielberg nodded and said, "That's right, you guys think of yourself as an audience, take a closer look at this movie, and if you have any opinions and ideas, we'll talk after watching it." ”

The two nodded in agreement.

The opening of "Infernal Affairs" contains a lot of Buddhist elements, which makes neither Martin Scorsese in the United States, nor Leonardo and Tom Hanks in China very interested, so the three of them are a little interested at first.

At the beginning of the opening chapter, the black boss played by Zeng Zhiwei appeared in the temple, which also made the three of them feel disappointed.

Westerners are mostly Christians, although they are not fanatical about religion, but they are relatively firm in their beliefs, and Western culture has been strongly exported to the Eastern world for a long time, so that Oriental people have long been accustomed to seeing churches, statues, and priests in European and American film and television dramas, and even know a lot of details about Christianity, but the export of Eastern culture to the West has always been weak.

But fortunately, the three of them can continue to watch patiently.

And when Zeng Zhiwei said in front of the camera that he wished his younger brothers smooth sailing in the police department, the three of them suddenly sat up straight involuntarily.

The underworld actually sent people into the police system? It's kind of funny!

None of the three of them thought that as soon as they felt a little interesting, they began to be gradually attracted to this movie, as Li Mu analyzed to Li Ziwei before, the core setting of "Infernal Affairs" is genius-level, which all filmmakers before did not expect, and "Infernal Affairs", which integrates Class A plot, Class B plot and Class AB plot, is enough to make everyone's eyes shine!

After experiencing the boredom and resistance of the first two or three minutes, the next nearly 100 minutes of the movie, these three people watched intently and were extremely engaged!

And when Chen Yongren played by Liang Chaowei was suddenly shot in the elevator, these three were completely shocked, they never thought that a Chinese gangster movie could be so exciting!

Martin Scorsese was deeply shocked when he saw this scene, although he was reluctant to admit it, but this movie is really a masterpiece! The setting of the main line and the exquisite plot have given him great confidence! He believes that if he takes such a genius setting and makes it Hollywood, it will definitely become a classic Hollywood gangster blockbuster!