Throughout May, Wang Yang was writing the script and storyboard script of "The Ninth District", and in order to design some scenes of the third part of "Human Extinction of Humanity", he studied the aesthetics of violence, but most of the techniques were applicable to the pictures of battle, and the extinction of humanity did not require any beauty, he thought that what he wanted was bloody, disgusting, and unbearable, which made people shudder when they saw it.

For this reason, he opened his mind and let himself think about the "devil", and also consulted a lot of information about torture in various countries around the world, the Nazi German army in World War II, the Japanese army and other animals, and then he found that human beings can really be so disgusting and inhumane, and suddenly understood the emotion of "killing all human beings". But in addition to designing the footage of Victrex killing the human army, he also had to design how humans brutally study aliens.

When Viggers was about to be dismantled by the mnu scientists, he struggled to escape, holding a doctor hostage and trying to escape, but the MNU security guards who arrived didn't care about the doctor's life or death, and killed him if he wanted. But Viggs grabbed an alien weapon and fired indiscriminately, and the security guards got out of the way, and he escaped the room, only to find a huge research room outside, the secret place of the MNU headquarters.

In the laboratory, there are adult aliens, children, and fetal aliens, who have been dismembered alive, skinned and drained, injected with various drugs to cause pain, and they are directly crushed by a special meat grinder for an experiment to refine DNA...... These shots are important, not just for disgusting, but to accumulate the depression and anger in the hearts of the audience little by little, as the audience follows Vigers's eyes, scans the miserable aliens in the research room, listens to their screams, and looks at the clear, blank eyes of a little alien child...... From that moment on, the audience's stance will change.

Wang Yang didn't know how he spent this time at all, his heart was full of depression, irritability and anger, and he often woke up suddenly in the middle of the night, disturbing Jessica next to him and couldn't sleep, he felt that he was about to go crazy. As a result of almost sinking himself in, he designed a large number of dehumanizing shots, and Viggs slaughtered wildly against the MNU army.

He thought that with these shots of "District 9", the MPAA gang would naturally not give those three levels with the letter "G", definitely R-rated, or maybe NC-17, in that case he would be in trouble.

During this time, he didn't spend all of his time on the script, occasionally going back to USC to listen to classes, going to the Staples Center with Jessica to watch Lakers games, and visiting Santa Monica Beach on weekends, otherwise he would really go crazy.

He also hired an art teacher to teach himself and systematically learn sketching, his paintings were too "abstract", and there was no problem in making realistic movies before, but now it is a science fiction movie, and this storyboard script has a lot of imaginary pictures and many complex "big scenes", which requires the set designer, art director and other people, and the entire special effects team to know the composition of the shot, and abstract painting can not be satisfied.

Therefore, many directors have very strong painting skills, such as James Cameron, Tim Burton and others, and they all have the ability to open personal exhibitions.

Wang Yang's lofty goal is to hold an exhibition of his paintings in a gallery in New York one day in the future, and it is not a "beetle = bee" kind of painting. As for the appearance of the aliens in "District 9", he has provided concept drawings and requirements to Blue Sky Studio, that is, "cool", "ugly", "vivid eyes", "looks like a human, but at a glance you know that it is an alien", and he reminded the designers that they can combine the characteristics of all beetles and shrimps for fusion design.

Although Blue Sky Studios is an animation company, and the animals in "Ice Age" are also cute, it doesn't mean that their art style is limited to that. In order to design the 2D image of this alien group, Blue Sky sent more than a dozen image designers to work together, and also invited an entomologist to help, in order to design a different "cool and ugly" alien.

The time has stepped into June, and with the arrival of summer vacation, the hot summer vacation schedule has already come, "The Mummy 2", "Shrek", "Pearl Harbor", ...... The fans and audiences in the movie theater laughed and screamed, the media critics were busy praising or scolding, and the weekly box office list also fought fiercely, but these have nothing to do with Wang Yang, there may not be the word "magic Yang" in the newspaper for a long time, but on August 3, "Youth Musical" will premiere, and the story of this trilogy will officially end.

It was a hot afternoon in Los Angeles, and in Beverly Hills, Wang Yang was wearing a white T-shirt printed with a spaceship pattern and a pair of jeans, and there were not many people on the street, and he walked a little way to a bright coffee shop, where he had made an appointment to meet Robert Downey Jr., who had been released on parole two days earlier.

Walking into the coffee shop, Wang Yang saw Donnie in a blue shirt sitting there, he greeted and shouted with a smile: "Hey, buddy!" Downey suddenly stood up with a smile, walked up with his hands outstretched, and said with a smile: "Man!" Under the gaze of a customer and waiter, the two hugged each other firmly and patted each other on the back.

"Man, don't you wear enough blue clothes?" Wang Yang smiled and looked Donnie up and down, he felt like the scene of two "good brothers" in prison reuniting after being released from prison in a gangster movie in Hong Kong, and like Tim Robbins seeing Morgan Freeman in "The Shawshank Redemption...... Donnie glanced at the clothes on his body, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I'm warning myself." But it looks good, right?"

Wang Yang nodded and smiled: "Okay, it's good to see you outside." He punched Donnie in the shoulder and walked over to the coffee table inside, laughing and saying, "I know some birds can't be kept up." Donnie smiled and said casually, "Now my record is 18 months. ”

The two came to the quiet corner coffee table and sat down, and after a while, Wang Yang drank coffee, looked at Donnie opposite, and said, "Routine, show off your acting skills!" The purpose of this meeting, in addition to catching up, is also the audition for the starring role in "District 9". He laughed, "I need to know you're not rusty." In between three jail sentences, Downey has also played a number of low-budget independent films in leading roles, or medium-budget supporting roles, but he has also not acted in almost two years now.

"Rusty?" Downey pointed to his chest in disbelief, then shook his finger, "Who am I? I'm Robert Downey Jr., a natural performer. Young director, let's get started!"

Because of the large number of special effects, the production cycle of "District 9" will inevitably take a long time, and after a rough estimate, it is tentatively scheduled to be released at the end of the summer vacation in 2002, and it may also be released during the Christmas schedule, which will be more than a year later. And its pseudo-documentary, a series of viral marketing methods, has a premise that the content of the story must be kept absolutely confidential, and the audience will not know that there is a deformation before entering the cinema, and probably only know the background of the story, that is, the arrival of aliens.

So before signing a contract, just in case, Downey won't see the specific script, but the audition never only needs to be impromptu performance, not to mention the long-famous "Oscar nominee for Best Actor", routinely trying out temperament.

"Now you're going to kill something, it's all life, but you don't care, it's a very trivial thing in your eyes, don't ......" Wang Yang took another sip of coffee and continued to Donnie who was listening: "It's also something to show off, your friend is holding a video camera and filming your 'heroic' behavior, so you look at the camera and show everyone how you killed them." ”

Donnie nodded, he thought quietly for a while, and then suddenly laughed, with a teasing look on his face, and said, "Shoot well! Oh look, these poor little creatures, today is really their lucky day, I will kill them very gently, very gently, to ensure that there is no pain......"

"It's a little bit less. Wang Yang carefully observed Donnie's performance, and said his request: "Don't be so little Robert, don't be so handsome! You know that this character is funny, an honest man who loves his wife and family, ordinary and silly." You kill them for a career credit, and you will be appreciated by others, your boss, your father-in-law, your wife, your friends, ......"

In Kafka's Metamorphosis, the protagonist Gregor is a kind, loyal, very loving family member and a responsible little man. His father was bankrupt, his mother was bedridden, and his sister was still going to school, so the whole family depended on him, and he worked diligently and desperately to catch his breath, in order to pay off his father's debts and give his family a good life. After being turned into a beetle, Gregor was a rare good man who worried about his father's debts and amused his family.

And Victrex is also such a small person, the difference is that the source of his pressure is not money, but career achievements, his father-in-law is the president of MNU, and his wife can be said to be "married" to him compared to his status as a high-level administrator in District 9. Vickers always wanted to make a difference, wanted to be promoted, and raised his head in front of his boss and father-in-law, so that his wife was proud of him.

He is also a good man, but the good side of his humanity, kindness, love for his family, and sense of responsibility, which are all contributed to what he thinks is a good human being, and the bad side of his humanity is all given to the aliens who he thinks are dirty and garbage. But when he began to deform, just as Gregor was abandoned by his relatives, he was ruthlessly abandoned by his family, his wife, and the whole of human society.

So he is lonely and struggling, but he still considers himself a human being, and still has the selfishness and weakness of human beings...... But in the end, he abandoned the selfishness and weakness of human beings, gave the good side of human nature to the alien Christopher Foson, and killed the "former self (human army)".

This is a "psychological metamorphosis" after Victrex's physical transformation, but before that, he was a small person. And Downey's interpretation is a bit too bohemian, although a character is shaped by the actor's own understanding, and the same is true for Victrex. But one thing is very important, that is, this man's badness, not the simple racism of the bald colonel, "I want to kill all the aliens", of course, he also despises aliens, but more because he takes it for granted and wants to be promoted.

Of course, Donnie hasn't read the script yet, so Wang Yang directly asked him how to act, to see if he can perform that kind of effect and temperament, if he can, there will be no problem.

"Okay, I see. Donnie stopped, he pondered for a while, his eyes narrowed slightly with pleasure, and he smiled a little excitedly: "Look at these creatures, if you want to kill them, just press this button like I did." He simulated hand movements, completely ignoring the life, looking at the camera and smiling, "They're all going to die!" ”

Wang Yang couldn't help but nodded, worthy of being a "natural performer", Donnie understood too quickly, and immediately grasped the point of excitement. It's good that you haven't read the script and have been shaping your feelings for a long time to have this effect. He smiled and snapped his fingers, "Cut! Robert, the next part is the important part. ”

That is, the pain after Victrex's transformation. Wang Yang thought for a while, and then said slowly: "Man, for one reason, you have been abandoned by the whole world, all the people who know you and those who don't know you hate you, and some people want to kill you. He thought of the dream of turning into a big beetle, and gritted his teeth and said, "Even your father-in-law will shoot you, and your friends and your beloved wife will not believe you...... You're in pain, you want to come back, you want to come back!"

Donnie drank his coffee in silence, thinking in his mind about his experience of taking drugs, being abandoned by the whole world, and the people he loved no longer believed him?He remembered Sarah's choked voice ten years ago: "Let's break up, Robert, you're not the right dress for me...... I thought I could change you, but the truth is no, I've had enough. He remembered that five years ago, his ex-wife Debora had said to him, "Robert, I've had enough! Let's get a divorce, the Indio will follow me......"

"Why don't you believe me, I'll change!" Donnie looked dazed and pained, his eyes were full of helplessness, loneliness and anxiety, he scratched his hair and said, "I will change, don't give up on me." Why don't you believe me, why ......"

Watching him perform alone for a long time, Wang Yang suddenly laughed and shouted: "Cut! Very good, very good! "There's no doubt that Donnie's acting skills are great, he can play the characteristics of Victrex, just more handsome, but he can create a Victrex of his own. The only concern was the problem of drug use, but when he was on Lake Island, he had already chosen to trust Donnie and believe that this old guy could be free of drugs from now on.

"So I got this poor character? I can't stand it. Donnie wiped his eyes with a smile and frowned, "What's his name?"

Wang Yang shrugged his shoulders without answering, took out a pen and a small notebook from his trouser pocket, wrote a string of numbers on the paper, pushed it to him, and said seriously: "Your salary, how about it?" Donnie said with a smile while taking it and looking at it: "Magic Yang, this is not in accordance with the rules, maybe you should discuss the salary with my agent." He glanced at the numbers on the paper and said, "A 2 and 6 zeros, that is, 2 million." ”

He sighed, nodded and smiled, "It's so rich, I don't have a problem, I think my agent will agree." ”

This is the actor of a movie with an investment of hundreds of millions, and the salary of 2 million seems to be very low, but now don't talk about blockbusters, even small-budget movies are going to abandon him, who dares to find a person who will go to prison at any time to film?

"OK, there is still ......" Wang Yang took the pen and wrote a number on the notebook again, and said in a serious tone: "Donnie, I believe that you can quit drugs, but I also have to think about the company, the crew and myself, so if we sign a contract, there will be such a clause in the contract." Donnie understood what he was talking about, and smiled nonchalantly, "I absolutely understand." Wang Yang pushed the notebook to him and said, "If you touch drugs again, you are caught and sent back to Lake Island to be imprisoned, delay filming and damage the reputation of "District 9", you need to compensate this amount." ”

Seeing that 10 million was written on the paper, Donnie glanced at it, then shook his head and laughed, "No, this number is not good." Add one more zero!" He reached out and took Wang Yang's pen, circled another zero after 10 million, and said, "One hundred million." ”

"Robert, you don't have to be ...... like this" Wang Yang looked at the energetic man opposite, he could feel the guy's determination. Donnie spread his hands and said with a smile: "What, man, don't change my mind, this will be a much greater threat to 'Old Robert'!" Wang Yang suddenly laughed and said, "I didn't plan to change it, just 100 million!" Robert, I hope you won't lose it, otherwise I will die of laughter." ”

"Boy, you're not going to get it. And 100 million? Haha, how can I have that much money? In that case, I'm going to file for bankruptcy. Donnie laughed too, and the two laughed for a while, and he looked around from side to side, and proposed, "It's too boring here, young director, let's have a drink or two in another bar." Well, it's only afternoon...... The bar is wonderful at night. ”

Wang Yang smiled refusively: "No, I can't drink anything other than beer, otherwise I'll go crazy." He shook his head self-deprecatingly, and added, "And I have a show tonight, and I'm going to watch the Lakers game with Jessica." Donnie shrugged.

Now the NBA has come to the stage of the Finals, the Lakers vs Philadelphia 76ers. And his beloved Golden State Warriors have made the playoffs this season, and their regular season results are at the bottom of the West...... Thankfully, USC returned to the NCAA elite top 8 this year, losing by 10 points to eventual champion Duke University, but UCLA, which also lost to Duke and stopped in the round of 16, lost by 12 points, so USC won by 2 points.

The two then chatted for a while, then paid the bill and left the coffee shop to go home. On the street, looking at Donnie who had walked a few steps away, Wang Yang reminded and shouted: "Man, drive carefully, don't fucking get drunk again!" Donnie over there stopped and looked back at him, and suddenly smiled: "Amazing Young, if I were gay, I would definitely fall in love with you." ”

"Shit!" Wang Yang couldn't help laughing and scolding, raised his middle finger at him, and scolded: "Why do some people just want to be scolded by others?!

(To be continued)