"I want to die. In the elegant and spacious living room, Joshua lay weakly on the fabric sofa, with a sad face, and said, "Jesus! I actually got married like this, and then divorced like this, in less than a day!" He let out a long sigh, covered his face, and said: "Why did this happen to me? I have an extra 'ex-wife' in my resume? I have never touched her!"

"Hahaha......" Wang Yang sat cross-legged on the sofa next to him, kept letting out a low laugh, looked at Jessica who came with an ice pack, and said with a smile: "Scarlett Jackson!" Jessica smiled angrily and handed them the two ice packs respectively. Wang Yang put an ice pack on his forehead and said with a smile: "Joshua, in fact, Scarlett is quite spicy, maybe you just want to be together, don't get divorced." ”

Joshua gritted his teeth and said, "If that's Johnson!" he covered his eyes with an ice pack and said bitterly, "I don't want to live anymore, I really don't want to live anymore." ”

"I don't even know what to say about you two guys!" Jessica smiled and patted Wang Yang's arm, sat down beside him, and said, "Fortunately, no one was hurt." She looked at the tattoo on Joshua's arm, and couldn't help but be amused, and grinned, "Why am I not a boy? ”

Joshua snorted, finally able to laugh at others and said, "You're a boy, Jan has to be a base!" Wang Yang smiled and didn't speak, Jessica smiled with a brow, "So I'd better be a girl, do something crazy that belongs to girls." She smiled and asked curiously, "What the hell did you all do last night, and how did you get to do this?"

After a night of madness, the four of them waited until they all woke up and lost money to the Caesars Palace Hotel, Joshua contacted his new wife on his mobile phone, confessed his mistake and agreed to divorce a few days later, and the four returned to Los Angeles. Each of them was dizzy and weak, and naturally instead of driving back, they sat dizzily for an hour, and Wang Yang and Joshua were then driven back to Beverly Hills by the driver, and their heads were still sore at four o'clock in the afternoon.

Although he had a headache, Wang Yang's mind was very clear, but many of the memories of last night had become fragments, buried in the long river of memories waiting to be excavated or completely forgotten. He frowned and thought, "Well, I can only think of part of it...... Originally, we couldn't tell the girls about the goodbye bachelorette party, but Jessica, now let's treat you as our brother. ”

"Thank you!" Jessica hugged her fists proudly, kissed him on the cheek again, and said with a sweet smile, "Brother!" Joshua suddenly shouted, "Don't irritate me, I can't see anything about love right now!" Jessica spread her right hand and smiled, "Please." ”

Wang Yang rolled his eyes with a smile, covered the cold ice pack on his forehead, and said with a smile while thinking: "Still don't listen?" When we arrived in Las Vegas, we drank in the hotel room at first, and I don't know how many bottles we drank...... I think by the time we walked out of the room, all four of us were drunk, Joshua, didn't we?"

"I don't know, I should be drunk...... Joshua was also reminiscing, vague memories flooded back, and said: "Then we went to the casino, they exchanged 10,000 chips, I remember this number, because I was the only one who redeemed 500 yuan, shit ......" Wang Yang nodded and said: "You also said at the time, 'I want to win back a sports car!'"

Jessica Ha laughed, and Joshua sighed without rebuttal, "Young said that slot machines are deceitful and don't play them, and roulette is deceitful and don't play them...... In the end we all went to play 21 and Tom and Xhachary were not very lucky, and the money was quickly lost. But Jan, this guy, I have to admit it!" he gave a thumbs up and laughed, "He's a great gambler, he's lucky, he's won a lot of money, and once Blackjack......! Who?"

"What?" Wang Yang thought for a while, some memories suddenly flashed in his head, and said with a smile: "Jeff-Ma!" Joshua nodded again and again, and said with a smile: "Yes, yes, it's Jeff-Ma!" Then we left the hotel, ready to play in other places, I don't know why we arrived at the tattoo parlor, and ...... in the tattoo parlor."

When he said this, he suddenly stopped, as if he remembered something, Wang Yang also glared, and the two glanced at each other, and they couldn't tell their brother anymore. Wang Yang took over and said, "Joshua tattooed the head of Jesus, and then, I couldn't think clearly...... My head hurts. He closed his eyes in discomfort, and Joshua said bitterly, "Me too!"

Jessica nodded indifferently, thinking about what they had just said, and suddenly asked, "Who is Jeff-Ma?" Joshua said uncertainly: "A novelist, who wrote a book that teaches people to gamble?" Wang Yang couldn't help but smile and said, "No, it's his true story that was adapted into a novel by Ben Mozridge." At that time, Jeff Ma was a student at MIT and was about to attend Harvard Medical School, but one day, he was pulled into a secret organization, the MIT 21 Group, by two classmates. ”

The members of this group (mit-blackjack-team) are all very good geniuses in number measurement, they study the skills of counting cards at 21 points, compete with each other, and manipulate the tables with calm, high-IQ numbers, and they go to casinos every weekend to go on a fishing spree, sometimes winning more than $900,000 in one night, becoming a nightmare for casinos large and small in Las Vegas.

Casinos are not indifferent, but in the mid-90s, technology was not so advanced, only ordinary monitors, and these high-achieving students were ordinary gamblers, who were always disguised as all sorts of people, athletes, businessmen, foreigners...... After a long cat-and-mouse time, Jeff Ma and the others won nearly $10 million, and the private investigators gradually pieced together a little bit of clues and cooperated with the monitor to lock their identities.

After their outfits were exposed, Jeff Ma and others were blacklisted by nearly 100 casinos in Las Vegas and even the United States, refusing to let them enter the casinos. Jeff Ma and others captured Las Vegas and were expelled from the city, but they are now alive and well, continuing to be elites in other industries, and the saga of the year has been published in a book.

"That's it, all the casinos are afraid of them, and no one dares to let them in to gamble. Wang Yang sighed and said with a smile: "What a majesty!"

Joshua listened with a lot of enthusiasm and said excitedly, "I see, it's unbelievable! This is a true story? Cool! I really want to see the expressions of those casino owners at that time, it must be wonderful!" Jessica frowned a little puzzled, and asked with a smile, "Well, this is cool! But didn't anyone beat them up in those casinos? I don't know, but there will always be in the movies." ”

"Yes, it's in the book. Wang Yang shrugged his shoulders, of course, to add to the story, and said, "But in reality, no, Jeff Ma said that they were never treated roughly, they were just kicked out by the casino staff." He smiled and said, "Think about it, those people are all geniuses of MIT, and card counting is not a crime, they won't let themselves suffer that kind of loss." In fact, many of the contents of that book are different from reality, and there is a professor in the book......"

In the book "The Capture of Las Vegas," the main character, Kevin Lewis (Jeff Ma), can't afford to pay $300,000 to attend Harvard Medical School, fictional, and then he is lured into a group by a professor at MIT, who teaches fictional, and they are beaten up and fictional...... "Uh-huh." Jessica nodded as she listened, and Joshua suddenly remembered something, propped herself up, and said happily, "Dude, I seem to remember that you said you were going to make it into a movie? ”

"I have a lot of time, don't I? It's a good story! I'll shoot it, not necessarily now, but I will. Wang Yang smiled and felt very excited in his heart, this idea came to me yesterday I don't know when it came out, and now it is rooted there, and it is very strong! He turned his head to look at Jessica and said with a smile: "Sweetheart, can you go to the study and help me bring that book?" "Capture of Las Vegas", it is on the desk, thank you!"

Jessica said OK and got up and left. Wang Yang thought for a while, and suddenly asked, "Joshua, how do you feel when you hear the story of Jeff Ma?"

"Do you need to say that?" Joshua spread his hands in surprise and said loudly, "That's incredible! Cool! I now know that they weren't beaten, they're doing well, it's even cooler! You know it's unbelievable, but it's real, a few people have made a mess of all the casinos in Las Vegas, but everybody can't do anything about them, they can still be free......" he said with emotion, "What kind of people are that?"

"Very well said, very good!" Wang Yang smiled and clenched his fists, but he still felt a little powerless, and said with a smile: "I think this is the first impression it gives to the audience, the expectation it gives to the audience! This is the core." ”

At this time, Jessica walked back with a book and handed it to him. Wang Yang flipped through the pages and asked, "Hey, if you were asked to shoot this story, how would you shoot it?" He casually flipped the page and looked at it, and said: "There is a lot of room for this story to play, whether it can be made into a biopic of Jeff Ma, or a drama film of several people, serious, serious, funny, or even a campus film......

Joshua took the ice pack away, frowned, and thought, "I don't know, maybe it's going to be a comedy? No, no, no, it doesn't feel right, I'm going to make a cool, exciting movie, how Jeff Ma and they swept the casino, and the angry way the bosses looked!"

"Me?" Jessica tilted her head, thought for a moment, and said, "Let me shoot it, it's likely to win the Golden Sour Plum Worst Film Award." But I'm going to make a feature film that isn't serious, and it's not for the sake of being funny. She smiled and said, "I'm interested in how they do it? The card counting skills, and the makeup, the code gestures, I think it's very interesting." ”

"I know, as you wish!" Wang Yang nodded seriously, put his eyes on the book again, and said with a smile: "I want to think about it for a while." Joshua lay down on the couch and said, "Then I'll sleep." Jessica snorted, stood up and said, "Then I'll go out to the supermarket to buy some things and come back, there's no food in the fridge, you guys take care of yourselves." With that, she picked up the handbag on the coffee table and walked outside.

Looking at the book in his hand and thinking about the true story of Jeff Ma, Wang Yang slowly fell into deep thought.

This saga can be made into many genres, and on his return trip today, he watched a future movie called "21 Points to Die", which is also based on this book and this story. That movie was made into a drama, but it was completely screwed up, and he had to say that it was a mediocre, boring, impatient, and terrible movie, and a complete waste of the subject. (Rotten Tomatoes has a 35% positive rating and a Metacritic rating of 48 out of 100).

"21 Points to Victory" fails to grasp the focus and core of this story, and loses its original characteristics, those characteristics of the first reaction after hearing this story.

First of all, there are some "high-IQ details", including how the whole group operates, card counting skills, code words, gestures, and how they tease the casino, play cat-and-mouse games with private investigators...... "How do they do it?", but in the movie, these are all avoided and trivialized, and the stories on the gambling table are swept in quick shots, without a sense of professionalism, high intelligence, and the genius team does not play a role...... What was originally a feature of this story turned into some stilt that looked blunt.

It also didn't figure out the location of the enemy, and there should be only one enemy in the group, and that was the casino, and the private detective who fought their wits. It's not insidious money-hungry professors, it's not those boring and clichéd internal contradictions.

The positioning of the enemy determines the focus and direction of the story, and also determines what the story wants to say, and in "21 Points to Victory", maybe what it wants to say is not right to get rich overnight without work, these can't be kept after all, so in the end, the professor, the protagonist and the group all lost the money, became "nothing" people, and returned to their original lives.

This is the most unbearable thing! The idea of gambling for nothing is wrong, but it does not apply to this story, those people are not gambling, they are breaking the law, they are counting cards, they want to show wisdom, not preaching. In fact, it doesn't need to be so complicated at all, there is no need to add those heavy things to the story, the more you add it, the more mediocre it becomes, the more you lose its true legend.

The protagonist and the others are played around by the professor, caught and beaten by the security boss of the casino, and finally the protagonist has to cooperate with the security boss to calculate the professor, and then he is calculated by the security boss and has nothing...... It's not just a question of not being cool, it's not just a question of completely going against what the audience expects from it, it's just infuriating.

The great thing about Jeff Ma and the MIT-21 team is that the story is fascinating because it's a real legend, they played the casino around, they stormed Las Vegas, they swept away 10 million! The casinos had no choice but to blacklist them! The big winners from start to finish were all MIT students.

At the heart of the story is "a bunch of high-IQ geniuses conquer Las Vegas, and they have the last laugh." "Those professionalism, those high IQs, are the things that make it inherently cool, and sweeping casinos and playing private detectives are its natural ** points, this should be a movie that makes people addicted to watching."

"I can't ...... like that," Wang Yang muttered to himself, turning a few more pages of the book, and already had some vague thoughts in his heart, he wanted to write a cool, professional script that captured the core of the story. Obviously, this is not a job that can be done in a day or two, and he thinks he will need to contact Jeff Ma, Ben Mozridge, and some expert professors, private investigators, etc., who can help professionally.

But who will play Jeff-Ma? Thinking of this question, Wang Yang suddenly frowned. In the future "21 Points", the protagonist becomes a white Ben Campbell, and in the end, he is naturally played by a white actor, which is another big bad point of it. In some reports, the change has provoked huge discontent and protests from the Asian American community.

Because in reality, Jeff Ma, nicknamed "Intel Chip", is the most important member of the group to usher in the peak change, and most of the members of the group are Asian, as a result of "21 Points", Jeff Ma is white; the five-person team has two Asians, a girl without an image, a boy who is greedy and cheap, and likes to steal, one of the typical Asian screen images, a lewd thief.

Jeff Ma's lack of opinion on the change also led Asian netizens to denounce him as a "racial traitor" and declare that he would not watch the garbage movie, while Jeff Ma said: "I value the talent of the actor more than anything else, and it would be even more insulting if the studio randomly asked an Asian actor, such as a Japanese or a Korean, to play me." ”

This will not happen in his films, Jeff Ma is Chinese, and the protagonist on the screen must also be Chinese. If it is an honor to use wisdom to capture Las Vegas, then this honor is also Chinese! Why are Chinese always villains, obscene, and low-mouthed people? Even real stories have to be played by white people? If one day after a long time, someone suddenly goes crazy and wants to shoot "Magic Young," will you also find a white man to play it?

Jeff Jockey Club is a new screen image of Chinese Americans, and the positive role is no longer limited to kung fu, and the Chinese are not only kung fu, but also have a handsome, highly intelligent, and charismatic MIT genius. This is one of the reasons why he has a strong desire to make this story.

In reality, Jeff Ma looks very honest and not handsome, but he must be handsome in the movie, so where to find such a "Jeff-Ma"? A tall and handsome, high-IQ genius temperament, good acting skills, can play a 21-year-old young Chinese actor? And his English is also very good, although Wang Yang himself can speak Chinese, but the actor must interact with other actors and communicate with some people in the film crew, to do this, you need enough English proficiency.

Best, he would be a Chinese-American who grew up in the United States. There are several reasons, the first is the accent, the actor with an American accent is more Jeff Ma, and he is more accepted by the market, and his identity is the same, which can reduce the pride and prejudice of the market to a certain extent, but the more important reason is that a Chinese American who is familiar with American culture obviously has a deep understanding of the script and the shaping of the role, and has that flavor.

But where to look? Wang Yang understands that there is absolutely no place in Hollywood, there are no Chinese child stars here, and there is a lack of opportunities and space for Chinese actors to grow and survive, so his eyes can only look at the Greater China region, where there is the soil of the Chinese themselves, which also attracts the Chinese to go back and develop.

Although he is almost 22 years old and has not been to Greater China once, Wang Yang is no stranger to Hong Kong, because he grew up watching Hollywood movies on the one hand and Hong Kong movies on the other. Hong Kong films have their great characteristics and charm, Quentin Tarantino is one of the die-hard fans, and his film style is also deeply influenced by Hong Kong films.

When he was a child, he took classes at USC, and many Hong Kong films gave him a great shock, and those unique camera techniques, such as a lot of eye contact without lines and silent collisions, made him exclaim, "It turns out that movies can still be made like this!" In the genre of gambling films, it can be said that Hollywood and Hong Kong films are completely two types, and Hong Kong films can always play a sideline profession very cool, very textured, and ooze a "authentic" taste, which is worth learning.

Of course, because of the market, cost and shooting cycle, one of the characteristics of Hong Kong films is that a good film is followed by a bunch of bad movies, until the subject is filmed to death. Wang Yang hasn't watched much Hong Kong movies for a long time, and for a while he can't figure out if there is an actor suitable for playing Jeff Ma. He shook his head, put the question down in his heart for the time being, and said softly: "Okay, let's think about the heroine first." ”

In his initial idea, the film would be called "MIT-21-team", and the leader of the group would no longer be a professor, and there would be no such role as a professor. Not only does this conform to reality, but it also makes it even cooler: "We are geniuses, not a bunch of children who are taken by teachers; this is our own idea, we don't need any professors." ”

The captain of this team, the leader, fell to the heroine, she is the kind of very, very cool big sister, with a superior IQ, a tight mind, a calm heart, and extraordinary leadership...... She is also the one who pulls the male protagonist into the gang.

In the team, she and the male protagonist are both big players, and the other three are card counters. The so-called "card counters" are responsible for sitting at a certain table, participating in each game with the lowest bets, counting the cards at this table, accurately judging when the deck of cards at that table will be unfavorable to the dealer, and then putting a signal for the "big player" to enter the game. Big players have higher card counting skills, are so calm that they are not affected by emotions, and their luck is particularly good, their task is to win money, and naturally the more you win, the better.

Card counters and big players are fluid, and when the cards at that table are "cold", that's when they change tables.

This is a big player who is both calm and crazy, a girl with a cult charm...... When this question arose in Wang Yang's heart, he had the answer in the next moment, and looking at the face that seemed to be smiling in front of him, he muttered, "Natalie Portman...... Natalie!?" He thought seriously for a while, and then suddenly laughed, "Oh my god, who better fit than her?"

In terms of the movie itself, Natalie's acting skills are undoubted, and this role is very suitable for her, almost tailor-made;

From the perspective of market considerations, her super popularity as a "national idol" and her extraordinary status in the hearts of public fans have been of great help to "MIT-21-team". After all, the Chinese actor is a big element of "box office poison", this is not a kung fu movie, and it is a delusion to suddenly want the market to digest and accept it all; on the other hand, the more it sells at the box office, the more it can give the market confidence, at least to prove that Chinese are not only kung fu.

So this movie needs a heroine with strong market appeal to overwhelm the lineup, and who better fit than Natalie Portman?

Thinking of this, Wang Yang immediately closed the book, picked up the mobile phone on the coffee table with great interest, and no matter what time it was, he dialed Natalie's number directly, and connected it after a few beeps, he smiled: "Hey, Natalie!"

"Wow!" Natalie shouted in surprise, and then said, "Dude, you took the initiative to call me?

Wang Yang leaned back on the sofa with a smile, pressed his aching forehead, and said excitedly: "Don't care about that shit, man, you have to leave some slots for me!" He thought about the plan for this movie, and a series of other things to do, and said: "I don't know the exact time now, it should be after October this year, I need you to join me in a movie, heroine." ”

"Uh-huh......" Natalie replied noncommittally, the corners of her mouth curling into her phone, and she dragged her voice and asked, "What movie is that?"

"Please!" Wang Yang laughed a little impatiently, picked up the water cup and took a sip of water, and said decisively: "No matter what movie, you have to agree!" Natalie couldn't help but laugh, and let out a quick thinking "uh-uh" sound before saying, "Okay, I agreed! Wang Yang pretended to exhale relaxedly, and said with a smile: "I'm hooked! What are you sure of? I'm going to shoot that this time." ”

Natalie suddenly seemed to be pleasantly surprised: "Really, cool, who is my partner?" Wang Yang smiled, ignored her question, and said seriously: "Actually, this is a movie about high-IQ gambling, and the name is now called "mit-21-team". Do you play blackjack? Do you know if you count cards?

"What do you say?" Natalie's voice was full of annoyance, "Don't you know that many people think that Natalie is an old antique who only plays chess?" she sneered, and added: "I played at 21 o'clock, but I don't know much about card counting and Jeff-Ma." ”

Wang Yang snorted, then told her some preliminary thoughts and about her character setting, and finally smiled: "Anyway, that's it now, you have time to read the book "Capture of Las Vegas" first, and learn about card counting, you know that you are the captain, so cultivate that kind of boss temperament!" Natalie over there smiled: "Hmm, I will! Amazing Young, can I still get that damn Oscar nomination this time?"

"Oh, I don't know!" Wang Yang laughed, Oscar, and shrugged, "Maybe." This character doesn't have as many award-winning elements, but you can do a good job and maybe have a chance. Natalie's tone became nonchalant again, "Whatever, man, I know I have another bucket of popcorn in my bedroom." ”

After a few more indiscriminate words with her, he ended the call to determine the heroine of "MIT-21-team", happily threw away his mobile phone, caught it steadily, and said with a smile: "It's done!"

At this time, Joshua, who was lying on the main sofa, sat up, looked at Wang Yang with unblinking eyes, nodded his eyes with two fingers, crossed his eyes, and said in a rough voice: "Yang, I'm staring at you!" Wang Yang looked at him and smiled: "Scarlett Jackson." Joshua suddenly bounced back and took a deep breath, Wang Yang repeated the sentence "Scarlett Jackson", Joshua screamed and gritted his teeth, "Scarlett Jackson", he screamed: "You repeat it again, I will kill myself immediately!"

"Hahaha-" Wang Yang let out bursts of unscrupulous laughter, silently reciting "Jackson" to him. Joshua hurriedly closed his eyes and changed the subject: "Are you really going to make that Jeff Ma movie?"

Wang Yang smiled and nodded: "Of course, you give me a reason not to shoot?" He picked up the water cup and took a sip of water, moistened his dry throat, and said: "But that movie has to be slow, the script and storyboard must be carefully considered, and before that, I have to make another movie, "The Hangover." ”

Joshua opened his eyes suddenly, and said in surprise, "And one more, whoa, really like it was written in the newspaper, that high-speed magic Jan is coming back?" He waved his fist excitedly and laughed, "Man, you're cooler than Jeff Ma!" So what's the story of this movie? drunk?"

"Our business yesterday. Wang Yang smiled, Joshua was stunned for a moment and said, "What do you mean?" Wang Yang spread his hands with a smile on his face, and said: "It's yesterday, a man wants to get married, and then say goodbye to a bachelorette party, and four men run to Las Vegas to get drunk and go crazy." Imagine that we woke up this morning and Tom was gone, but the wedding was going to take place a day later!

He picked up the ice pack next to him and smashed it at Joshua, and continued to laugh: "But you see, the three of us are all so drunk that we don't remember what happened last night, so we have to rely on clues little by little to restore the truth of the crazy night, and a lot of crazy things continue to happen in the middle, and finally we find Tom, and the wedding is successfully completed." That's it. ”

"You mean ......" Joshua frowned suspiciously, and said, "You mean that my marriage will also be brought to the big screen?" Wang Yang laughed a few times before nodding and said: "Yes, of course! This is one of the contents, it's so interesting! Also, there will also be card counting in it, and by the way, Jeff-Ma will also mention them." I think this is a kind of selling "mit-21-team" first, and then when it comes to publicity, I don't have to spend so much effort explaining what card counting is. ”

Joshua had no interest in publicizing or not promoting card counting, he only knew that it would publicize his marriage! He gasped a few times angrily and said, "No, Young! You can't do that, what movie would do that!? Unbelievable!"

"Brother, a funny comedy will do. Wang Yang smiled and lay down on the sofa, looked at the snow-white ceiling above, and said to himself: "Joshua, do you know?

For most of the last year, he was entangled in some sad things, in order to better grasp the story, he was a little too deep in the whole process of filming "District 9", lonely, depressed and sad, and his mood was always bad and bad...... And last night's indulgence gave him a real chance to vent, and he remembered to knock over the couch, smash the TV, and make a mess of the entire presidential suite...... It's all his credit.

It also made him have a strong desire to continue playing like this, to make a funny movie! No matter how much shit there is, it's just for fun and funny!

"Can you get rid of my marriage?" Joshua still asked with some reluctance, seeing Wang Yang shaking his head, he immediately wailed, gritted his teeth and said, "I'm going to kill myself now, I'm going to kill myself now!" At this time, Jessica, who was carrying a bag or two of things, walked in, and when she heard her brother's words, she smiled suspiciously and asked, "What's wrong with you?" Joshua wiped his eyes without tears, and said sadly: "I should ask what happened to your boyfriend! He wants to make a funny movie again, why!"

Wang Yang shrugged his shoulders with a smile and said in a serious tone: "Why? I just think that 'District 9' will scare a lot of people, and they will scold, 'Damn Wang Yang, I was deceived by him, I feel so uncomfortable watching this movie!' OK, then let a funny movie make them happy! Well, this is funny. He smiled and said, "Actually, I find that I'm kind of in love with Las Vegas." ”

(To be continued)