"I think there's also the possibility that John Crowley missed out on that project, but was impressed by your audition or performance, and now that he's taking on a new project, you're still the first person in mind, so the role still comes to you. ”

Aside from the power of the brokerage company, Lan Li gave another guess.

Rooney pondered for a moment, the corners of her mouth curled, and she blinked, "This is a compliment to me, it seems that the next time we meet, I must thank John for his appreciation." Then, Rooney raised her chin arrogantly and shook her head slightly, showing her smugness.

The smile on the corner of Lan Li's mouth also rose lightly.

"So, which project do you think I should choose?" Rooney lowered her head and began to flip through the script in her hand, but her mouth began to ask Lan Li's opinion.

This is an interesting question.

The first project that Lan Li introduced to Rooney was "Carol".

This is one of the most acclaimed, affirmed and sought after works of 2015, based on the original book by the famous crime writer Patricia Highsmith, the female author of "Train Monster" and "The Genius Ripley", based on her own experience, she tried a new genre to tell the love story between two women in the fifties, and truly restore the original appearance of love.

Since the project was established in 2011, from the United States to the United Kingdom, from the United Kingdom to the United States, and finally back to the United Kingdom in a circle, it has been in the hands of multiple production companies, and has never been able to find investors.

In 2007, he collaborated with Andrew Garfield on "Boy A", which became the latter's famous work and appeared in the public eye for the first time, while the director himself has been wandering in the field of independent films, creating two works before and after, unfortunately not being able to cause more repercussions, originally he thought that "Carol" would make it, but after waiting for no response, he finally withdrew from the project in frustration.

While waiting for "Carroll", John Crowley missed several projects one after another, and when he came out again, he couldn't find a suitable project, so he went to the small screen and directed two episodes of "True Detective", which became the most word-of-mouth work since the beginning of 2014 because of the excellent performances of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, and became famous all over the world.

After finishing his work as "True Detective", John Crowley returned to the film field and took over "Brooklyn".

At the same time, "Carol" went around in circles for most of the time, but still failed to find a suitable investor, missed Rooney, missed John, and the heroine's role was tentatively determined to be Mia-Wasikowerska (Mia-Wasikowska), the young actor who entered the public eye with "Alice in Wonderland", but after all, he still failed to officially make a decision, and later Mia chose to join Jim Jarmush's new work "Scarlet Peak", and " Carol "still hasn't been able to start filming, and now it's in the hands of Lan Li."

In fact, "Carol" and "Drunken Country Ballad" are somewhat similar, not in terms of subject matter or content, but in terms of a type of work:

They have the potential to be rejuvenated with the right director and the right cast, whether it's a cult work of art or an awards season seed, but it's full of uncertainties, not least because the script itself is so literary and artistic that it's a far cry from the conventional standard of two tights, and it takes some courage to invest. As a result, the work fell into an embarrassing situation, and it didn't seem to have any chances, but there was no way to make a decision immediately.

Including "Brooklyn" is also of the same type.

"Carol" aims at the simplest and purest love, while "Brooklyn" tells the story of homesickness. Like the "drunken country ballads", they are artistic seedlings that have grown in the village of Greenwich, New York, and they have taken root, but few people are willing to take the risk of giving them a chance to grow.

According to the trajectory of the previous life, the director of "Carol" is determined to be Todd-Hayness (Todd-Hayness), this director has successively shot "Far from Heaven", "I'm Not Here", "Velvet Gold Mine" and other works, he is somewhat similar to David Fincher, talented, maverick, shooting works have always insisted on their own artistic ideas, not for the market or for the awards season, but can give the work a unique color through his own perspective.

Occasionally, some works have won recognition during the awards season, but many more are individual creations that are outside the mainstream.

For example, David Fincher, whose "social network" is undoubtedly the pinnacle of awards season, while such famous works as "Fight Club" and "Seven Deadly Sins" have been miserably ignored, and Todd Hines, whose most acclaimed work, has not received any results during awards season, and "Carol" is his "social network".

They are equally talented, refusing to be born for awards season, but always inadvertently, impressing the Academy judges with their amazing talents, unexpectedly appearing on the Oscar stage, but without any results, and then returning to their own diligent artistic creation path, seemingly drifting away from mainstream audiences, but with their own prestige and support among niche audiences.

In fact, David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, and John Crowley are also such directors, and they are the most important part of the artistic creation field in the entire North American film market.

In the end, "Carol", co-starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, won six Oscar nominations for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay in that year's awards season, and was even one step away from being nominated for Best Director, but fell before the threshold because Todd Hines was unwilling to cooperate with the college's public relations.

The same goes for "Brooklyn".

This work is based on the original book by contemporary Irish writer Colm-Toibin, who is best known for writing about contemporary Irish society and the life of Irish immigrants, and Nick-Hornby, who is responsible for adapting the screenplay, is also a writer, and he is also a writer for light comedies such as "Single Parent Transfer Student" and "Broken Love Leader", and he also served as a screenwriter for "Growing Up Education".

The story tells the story of New York in the fifties, an Irish girl came here to chase her dreams, but couldn't help but start to miss her life in her hometown, and then met an Italian boy here, fell in love, and suddenly found that she needed to make a decision, whether she should stay in New York and start a family with the boy, and then live here forever, then...... What about her hometown?

Like "Carol", "Brooklyn" is set in New York in the fifties, and also focuses on the emotional experience of a girl, with nostalgia and love being the focus of the whole film. With delicate brushstrokes, it shows the most real and sincere appearance of those gentle emotions.

The heroine of "Brooklyn" was eventually played by Irish actor Saoirise-Ronan (Saoirise-Ronan), who became famous in 2007 with "Atonement", and she also experienced a lot of turmoil, transforming from a child star to an adult actor, starting from art films and exploring the possibilities of commercial works, but it never went well, and finally met "Brooklyn".

During that year's awards season, "Brooklyn" won three major Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.

"Carroll" and "Brooklyn" are both works of 2015, and both of them fought their way out as dark horses in that year, and the light and small weight of the work is a bit "crazy love", and the attention that finally won far exceeded expectations.

So, which work should Lan Li recommend Rooney to star in?

In the last life, Rooney ended up starring in "Carol", which is a choice that fits the trajectory of history.

In fact, Rooney did complete a wonderful performance, which won her the Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, but after entering the awards season, considering Cate Blanchett's reputation and connections have more potential, it has always been a work of double heroine sprint college PR, Harvey Weinstein decisively made a decision and promoted Kate to the heroine position, and Rooney became a supporting actress.

Historically, the North American distribution rights for "Carroll" eventually fell to Weinstein Pictures.

Now, the "Carol" project is still in Lan Li's hands, but I don't know if Harvey is also considering this work, or whether he is waiting for the film to be produced or after the cast is finalized, Harvey will notice this work.

It seems that invisibly, Lan Li and Harvey are once again targeted, but in the North American independent film distribution market, it is not easy to avoid Harvey, even without "Carol", the head-to-head confrontation between Sisyphus Pictures and Weinstein Pictures is destined. Compared with the six major Hollywood studios, Weinstein Pictures is definitely more difficult than ever.

In contrast, "Brooklyn", which was purchased by Fox Searchlight, did not have such "happy troubles", and they successfully won Saoirse a second Oscar nomination and the first Oscar nomination, which really made Saoirse break out of the world.

Faced with Rooney's question at this moment, Lan Li temporarily put aside the fixed concept of the previous life, thought about it seriously, and re-looked at the context and outline of the story from the perspective of the character and the script, from the perspective of Rooney, and finally solemnly gave his own answer, "'Carol'." ”

It has nothing to do with Harvey, it has to do with Rooney, it's all about the acting, about the story, about the character, Lan Li gave his professional opinion. He is trying to give the producer's opinion from the actor's point of view, which is also an improvement.