In November in London, the rain is constantly falling, the gloomy and dark sky seems to never see the sun, the bitter cold and depression of winter sweep everywhere, the whole world is shivering, and people just want to curl up by the fire, hold a cup of black tea, and then do nothing, just spend a boring afternoon, which is also a rare enjoyment.

Eggels-Lanthimos sat quietly in the corner of the café, where he held up a newspaper to cover his face, and then secretly pulled the newspaper down a little, carefully observing the people in the space, and from time to time like a frightened puppy, he pulled up the newspaper in a panic, hiding himself behind the "Times", pretending that he was not at the scene.

The afterglow of the eye can catch a touch of red outside the window through the inky rain and mist, the smoke-like red demon / Ye and brilliantly spread, the drizzly world suddenly brightened, and the eyes couldn't help but drift over, trying to clear the fog and explore the magnificence behind it.

Eggs's attention was slightly distracted, as if he was distracted by the touch of red, and he couldn't help but start to trace the outlines of those lines in his mind, and conceived the outlines and lines of an oil painting—

"Babble. ”

The wooden door of the coffee house was pushed open, and Ogles's thoughts were interrupted, so he quickly retracted his thoughts, pulled down the newspaper, and quietly looked at the customers who had just entered, and sure enough, he saw that the red umbrella was folded up, and the face behind the mystery was also revealed out of the shadows.

It's Lan Li-Hall!

The dark gray polka dot shirt with the dark black thick wool knitted sweater, and a smoked gray windbreaker jacket on the outside, there is no intricate and layered dress, and the slightly low-key and stereotypical collocation reveals an elegant bookish atmosphere in the handsome, and the unique temperament of the calm and atmospheric atmosphere is impressive.

Ogles quickly raised the newspaper, covering his face again, and Lan Li's voice faintly came from his ears, "I have an appointment with my friend to meet here, Lance Molds, has he arrived?"

"Sorry, not yet, you can sit back and wait, and if he arrives, I'll direct him to you. The waiter at the counter replied politely.

Ogles caught the sign of Lan Li turning his head, and he panicked and pulled up the newspaper again, covering his face tightly, lest he reveal his whereabouts. He seemed to feel Lan Li's burning gaze scanning, as if he could burn the newspaper in the next second, which made Ogs nervous more and more, and his hands holding the newspaper tightened, so that the green tendons on the back of his hands were clearly visible.

Ogles knew that he was not a qualified spy agent, and at this time, the blood that quickly hit his chest and burned his skin could reveal his whereabouts at any time, and he didn't want to hide it any longer if he could, but he really didn't have much choice, did he?

Today, Ogles and Lan Li will meet again for the final discussion of the performance of "Lobster".

Strictly speaking, in fact, the main performance agreement has been discussed, Lan Li will star at an ultra-low salary of 300,000 US dollars - even less than Jason Clark, and will not interfere with Ogels's directing work, now only need to complete the final signing, and then the crew can officially start filming. But Owgers still has doubts.

It can be said to be prejudiced, it can be said to be stubborn, or it can be said to be preconceived. All in all, Ogles always felt that Lan Li was not the first choice for the performance.

People are always like this, just like the first impression, once identified, the future change will take a lot of work, even multiplied work, either knowing that they are unreasonable but still unable to simply change the concept, or they are deeply trapped in the trap and unable to extricate themselves and then led by their own obsession and then lose the ability to make rational judgment, no matter what, the end is to refuse to admit their mistakes.

From the very beginning, Ogles did not think that Lan Li was an ideal candidate, and he even thought that Lan Li was a bit "overwhelming with power":

Why does Lan Li have to raise his hands and feet to welcome his own work? Why does Lan Li have to happily agree to the work he starred in? Why does Lan Li want to lower his salary to act, and he must happily agree?

His wishes, his ideas, his ideas, his setting, does anyone care? He's the director of this movie, isn't he?

It's not that Ogles hates Lan Li - he admits that Lan Li is a very good actor, maybe even one of the best actors of his time, and Ogles and Lan Li met once in London before to discuss the script and the character, and Lan Li did show his understanding of the character, and it inspired him to have a clearer understanding and awareness of the setting and trend of the whole story.

This is a very rare thing, and at the same time, Owgels is very grateful to Lan Li. As movie lovers, they share a lot of common language.

But the point is that Lan Li is not necessarily an actor for all roles, and he is not necessarily an actor who can match all directorial styles, which is an undeniable objective fact, and another important point is that Lan Li "barges in" in such a big way, dictates his project, and tells him what to do - even if Lan Li is right, it is really uncomfortable.

Owgels really didn't like that. What's more, in Ogels's view, Lan Li is not his first choice, not even his top five choices.

Because of these reasons, and because of those reasons, Ows has always been a little resistant, even though Lan Li is highly cooperative with all the circumstances, and is even willing to star with an ultra-low salary of 300,000 US dollars, showing rare sincerity, but Owgels still did not nod immediately.

However, Ogles is not a tough and sharp personality, his character is even a little shy and introverted, and he silently completes his thinking in silence -

Look, even though he has a lot of dissatisfaction and protests against Lan Li, he has never been able to express his thoughts, so he is led by the nose, and at the same time, even if his situation is very passive and embarrassed, and even if he has been forced into a corner, he still does not give up his persistence.

Soft on the outside and rigid on the inside, although it seems a little strange to describe it like this, it is indeed the best adjective of Ogels.

Ogles insisted that before officially signing a contract for cooperation, he needed to meet with Lan Li again to exchange opinions on the role and the script.

Andy Rogers and Tessa-Ross, the British producer of "The Lobster", were not suspicious, they just took it for granted that the two "drama nerds" of Ogles and Lan Li might still have "a lot of boring and boring professional" questions to exchange, and nodded and agreed without hesitation.

Incidentally, Tessa Ross is a regular partner of Sisyphus Pictures in the UK, and the two parties did not sign a formal contract agreement, but only relied on friendship to achieve mutual benefits.

The producer is a well-known name in the UK, having worked with Peter Jackson, Kevin MacDonald, Danny Ball, Ken Loach, Mike Lee, Steve McQueen and many other directors And so on and so forth, Sisyphus Pictures is filming and producing "Carol", and her name can also be seen.

The work "Lobster" is that Oggs went to the UK to look for investment, went around and came to Tessa Ross, and then she matched and contacted Sisyphus Pictures, and the project was completed.

Today's meeting was arranged by Tessa Ross herself, to find a private place for Lan Li and Auggs, who would not be disturbed by outsiders, but even she did not know Ogels' calculations.

Because Ogles didn't tell anyone.

Ogels decided that he needed to test Lan Li, and only when Lan Li passed the test would he have an in-depth discussion with Lan Li before making a final decision.

Ogles knew that the idea was very bold and risky, but he carried it out without any hesitation. Just because you don't speak up doesn't mean you don't have a voice inside.

At this time, Ords was secretly observing Lan Li's every move:

Lan Li turned around and looked around the coffee house, which made Ogus raise the newspaper again, and after noticing the movement, he put it down again, and then he could see that Lan Li had already sat down in the sofa chair near the window, hung his coat on the hanger, took out a book from his carry-on backpack, pulled out the bookmark, and began to read.

Read.

Read.

Or read.

Lan Li settled down without impatience and read quietly, without impatience or anxiety, and also did not prepare for the next meeting, as if it were ...... It's as if he's waiting for a friend, and even if his friend is late, he doesn't care.

What's next?

In fact, Ogles himself didn't have an idea, he just wanted to test Lan Li, but he didn't know how to test it, and he didn't know what result he was expecting, he just felt ...... He needs to create a dilemma, and then see how Lan Li solves it, maybe he will change his mind.

So, Ogles chose to be deliberately late - he arrived at the coffee house an hour early, but he didn't show up, patiently observing Lan Li from the side.

As a result, Lan Li was reading books, not in a hurry and enjoying the afternoon, but Ogles fell into the anxiety of fidgeting, observing Lan Li all the time, and always worried about revealing his whereabouts, like ants on a hot pot, unable to calm down at all.

Ogles couldn't tell whether this was a test for Lan Li or a test for himself.