Reeves agreed to join, a big step forward for Zhang Ran's film. The most critical part of film financing is guaranteed, and the pre-sale in February should not be too much of a problem.

After negotiations, Reeves' salary was set at $15 million plus a 15 percent profit share. This price is the same as Reeves's salary in the last two parts of "The Matrix", which is acceptable to everyone.

Immediately afterwards, the lead actor of the villain was also quickly finalized, and Adrien Brody agreed to play the role of Alexander, but he asked to meet and talk to Zhang Ran.

After the meeting, Brody asked directly, "Why did you choose me to play this role? I have no experience in action movies!"

Zhang Ran naturally can't say that I know you will win the Oscar soon: "Your temperament is very close to the role, Alexander is a person who lives a more miserable life, but is full of ambition." It's easy for an average actor to play this role, and I've seen your movies, and you're the actor I'm looking for. ”

Brody said happily: "I like action movies, I like Cheng Long. When I was a kid, I went to the movies in New York's Chinatown with my dad, and I grew up with Shaw Brothers movies and Bruce Lee movies. But I don't have any experience in action movies, so I can't do that kind of cool action!"

Zhang Ran was a little surprised to hear that Brody grew up watching Shaw Brothers movies: "We will find the best countless instructors to train you, and it will take about 4 months of practice before filming starts." Just like Reeves, he had to train for four months before he could make those moves before he played "The Matrix." You are younger than him and your body is more flexible. It's definitely fine, it's just that it's going to be hard when you're training!"

Brody said: "I am a professional actor and I have never been afraid of hard work. Do you need me to gain weight? I lost 30 pounds on "The Pianist." I've recovered a bit now, but I'm still thinner!"

Zhang Ran has read the report that when he played "The Pianist", Brody was hungry almost every day in order to lose weight in a month and a half. He likes such actors, shook his head and said, "No, if I need a muscular man, I won't look for you." That's fine now. ”

Brody couldn't wait to say, "Let's train as soon as possible, I can't wait!"

Soon, Brody's contract was signed. The salary is $1 million, and he is happy with the price.

Although "The Pianist" won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the film was highly praised by the industry. However, the movie has not yet been released, and Brody has acted in small-budget literary films before. The box office was dismal. He never proved himself at the box office.

The salary of Hollywood actors is linked to the box office data of the last three years, and if there is a box office, there is a salary, and Brody has not proven himself at the box office, so $1 million is a pretty high price. Under normal circumstances, he could only take five or six hundred thousand.

Of course, if you wait a few months, wait for "The Pianist" to be released, and wait until Brody gets the Oscar. The value will increase several times, and you can't get it without three or four million.

After the contract is signed. Brody began training with Cheng Hu, along with Keanu Reeves. The two have collaborated on the movie "Spirited" before, and they are more familiar with each other, and they are very happy to be able to work together again.

To practice martial arts, the first step is to stretch.

After Brody warmed up, at the request of Cheng Hu, his feet slowly opened to the left and right. When it opened to a 45-degree angle, his feet began to hurt. Brody gritted his teeth and forced his feet to open a little.

Not wanting to push too hard, Brody's feet slipped and pressed down sharply, and his feet opened into almost a zigzag. An excruciating pain instantly spread from Brody's leg to his head, and he felt like he had been torn in half!

A pig-like shout suddenly sounded on the training ground: "Whoa......"

Reeves was dumbfounded, looking at Brody wailing with his hands on his thighs. It's so powerful, it's directly pulled into a word, this is the real method, it's too dedicated!

Zhang Ran saw that Brody was screaming miserably, ran over to take a look, only to see that his face was pale, and cold sweat was coming out of his forehead, and asked, "Adrian, you don't care, right?"

Brody froze and said casually: "I'm not the kind of person who just brags and doesn't do anything, this, ouch......" Before he finished speaking, he couldn't help it, hugged his thighs and rubbed them wildly, screaming in his mouth.

When Zhang Ran saw this situation, it was estimated that he was either pulling the egg or had a ligament strain. Brody is nearly 30 years old, and now he has only started to practice martial arts, and he has begun to press his legs, and when he comes up, he pulls himself into a line, and you can imagine the pain.

Brody was quickly taken to the hospital, and the diagnosis was a ligament strain, which required half a month of rest.

During Brody's break, the crew finalized several more actors, including Donald Sutherland, William Hurt, and many more, all familiar faces that can be seen often in Hollywood movies.

When Brody restarted training, Zhang Ran and the special effects company had signed a contract. Lynn Cartwright took a few members of the team to Los Angeles and began to discuss special effects with Zhang Ran.

Initially, AnimalLogic offered 40 million, but Zhang Ran thought the price was too high. After difficult negotiations, the final special effects cost 35 million. Zhang Ran paid an advance payment of 7 million, and the remaining funds were slowly paid according to the production progress of the post-production special effects.

Zhang Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the team of "Space Warrior" was basically set up. However, there is not much left of the 20 million in Zhang Ran's hands, and the next operation of the movie still needs funds. However, the pre-sale of the film will not be until the Berlinale in February, and the tax refund will not be available from the government until the loan is obtained from the bank, and the complete budget plan and contract can be obtained from the government.

The importance of ad placement is highlighted!

The Hollywood film industry is the world's largest product placement market, and its blockbuster blockbusters with high investment, superstar franchises, and global distribution are favored by brand owners. In 2001, for example, the U.S. product placement market reached $2.9 billion, and the average number of product placements reached 22.2 of the films that won the U.S. box office week that year.

In Hollywood, there is a complete set of product placement advertising industry chain. Especially the big companies in Hollywood. This industry chain is made up of film producers, brand owners, advertising agencies and third-party evaluation agencies. In the process of preparing the script for the film producer, the marketer has begun to analyze the script and break down and label the plot that is suitable for product placement. This information is then sent to agencies that represent product placement, who are tasked by brands to find opportunities to place ads in their films. On the one hand, it has established long-term cooperation and networking with Hollywood studios.

Although Zhang Ran's film is not the work of a big Hollywood company, the filmmaker is Luc Besson, starring Keanu Reeves, and it is a big production with an investment of 120 million, which is still extremely attractive to advertisers.

The cost of 120 million is the need for publicity. There have always been two figures on the cost of movies in Hollywood, one is the data of publicity, and the other is the real investment. There is a difference between the two. Of course, Hollywood is more disciplined than domestic films, and the actual investment in many domestic films is often only one-third of what is advertised. Like "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling", the actual investment is a little more than 200 million, but it is claimed to be 600 million.

After receiving the materials provided by Zhang Ran for the film project, the advertising agency quickly began to evaluate which brand clients were suitable for placing ads here.

Zhang Ran: They are shooting sci-fi blockbusters, and they have superstars joining. Therefore, it has the initiative when choosing a co-brand for product placement. It doesn't just have to be a brand willing to pay for it. Of course, money must come first, but the popularity of the brand among consumers, whether the company has the promotion strength and marketing ideas, and whether the brand image is in line with the storyline are all very important.

For example, implanting McDonald's is a good choice, it is normal to have McDonald's in the future world, and it is not strange to see McDonald's on the street. The future world of "The Fifth Element" has a large McDonald's advertisement, and the placement is not blunt, but interesting. What's more, McDonald's has tens of thousands of stores around the world. During the film's screening, these stores are able to set up display panels. Set up posters and even launch movie-themed packages. Whether it's for a movie or a McDonald's, it's excellent publicity!

Next, Zhang Ran and the others began to communicate with the brand owner and formulate a detailed implantation plan. In the whole process, Zhang Ran exerted the spirit of asking for money and shamelessness, and wantonly plagiarized many classic advertising placements in later generations.

At the beginning of "Enemy of the Machine", Will deliberately showed people Converse's 2004 shoes. Zhang Ran directly copied this idea, but Converse replaced it with Nike. On the one hand, this advertisement explains to the audience the protagonist's stubbornness and preference for old-school culture, and on the other hand, it also reflects the concern about the gradual loss of human origin in the era of high-tech future. This shoe has become a kind of symbol, reminding people to keep a certain distance from this completely high-tech era at all times, not to give up questioning and reflection, and the free spirit and individuality pursued by individuals should not be erased in any era, which is very interesting!

The people of the advertising agency were shocked by Zhang Ran's endless implantation ideas, and felt that Zhang Ran was a genius of advertising placement, and they were glad one by one, fortunately, this is the director, if you do advertising, it is estimated that you will have nothing to do!

By the end of December, the detailed plan for ad placement was released and written into the movie's storyboard. The cost of all ad placements is $30 million. If the film grosses more than $500 million worldwide, the advertiser will also pay an additional 20 percent of the advertising cost. Before the film started filming, it was already determined that it could recover $30 million. According to the contract, Zhang Ran and they successfully got the upfront payment of 12 million, and the rest of the money will not be paid until the film production is completed.

Thirty million sounds like a lot, and it's not worth mentioning compared to a real Hollywood blockbuster. "007: Skyfall" cost 94 million pounds to produce, and Heineken beer cost a whopping 28 million pounds, which is not the most expensive, and the Aston Martin car product placement in "007" cost a whopping 50 million dollars. For a real Hollywood blockbuster, millions of implants are simply disdainful.

In the production office, Zhang Ran sat in a chair and discussed the shooting of special effects shots for the film with Neil and special effects supervisor Lynn Cartwright.

The mobile phone rang suddenly, Zhang Ran picked up the phone and looked at Qiu Yuanxu's phone, and when he connected the phone, he heard Qiu Yuanxu say anxiously: "Zhang Ran, something happened!"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Ran frowned, "Time and Space Warrior" has no other actions in China except for letting special effects companies do materials and 3D storyboards, and it is definitely not a problem of "Time and Space Warrior". It should be that there is something wrong with "Burst Drummer", but what can go wrong with "Burst Drummer"? The movie is still more than a month away!

"Last week, Radio and Television notified "Burst Drummer" to be withdrawn for retrial, just now I went to Mr. Zheng Dongdong to ask about the situation, and he told me that there was a leader above who said that "Burst Drummer" is not suitable for release!" Qiu Yuanxu said anxiously.

"What!" Zhang Ran's face changed and he shouted. (To be continued.) )

PS: The training for Keanu Reeves will be done later!