The office was silent, James Wing sat on the sofa, his eyes swept over Matthew's face next to him from time to time, although he was not a rookie director, he was still a little nervous at the moment, as if he was worried that the well-prepared script would not meet the requirements of Matthew as an investor.

During this period of time, it was not that no other company wanted to work with him, but he refused without hesitation, if nothing else, just the fact that Matthew dared to lash out at Harvey Weinstein on Oscar night was worthy of his promise.

Looking at the whole of Hollywood, even if the big six companies are counted, who wants to smash someone like Harvey Weinstein for a small director like him?

The Big Six really didn't care about Harvey Weinstein, but no one wanted to provoke a disgusting fly that hummed in their ears all day in front of them.

He saw very clearly what happened that night, Matthew had a grudge against Harvey Weinstein for him as a director and for a project that cost negligibly.

This point has long been spread in the circle in private.

And he also heard more news, there were rumors from Warner Bros. that Matthew had snatched an investment share of the "Hobbit" series from Weinstein Pictures in order to suppress Harvey Weinstein's arrogance.

Perhaps only he knows that Matthew's purpose is not to suppress Harvey Weinstein's arrogance at all, but to take revenge on himself being imprisoned by Harvey Weinstein on Oscar night!

A big guy who defends his people so much, who wouldn't want to cooperate with him?

On the other hand, Lionsgate, which likes to make empty promises, and Weinstein Pictures, which always uses their power to suppress actors and directors, if there are other better options, who would be willing to work with them?

Although he doesn't believe in the great principle of reciprocating the grace of a drop of water, let alone a righteous gentleman in the oriental tradition, Matthew has done so much, if he can't even keep his promise, he will look down on himself.

Besides, where do those small companies have so many resources in Matthew's hands?

He and Ray Warner are not unable to make up the production cost of $1.5 million, but the film is not as simple as shooting and producing, so what will be done with the publicity and distribution later? Who will advertise the film? Who will fight for theaters for the film?

If such a film is released on a large scale, the cost of publicity and distribution will definitely be much more than the production cost.

Matthew didn't pay attention to James Wynn next to him for the time being, and read the script he brought intently, this script looks like more than 100 pages, but in fact, less than half of the content about the plot scenes of the movie is not even half, and nearly two-thirds of the content is a detailed shooting and production plan made by James Win.

In the plan, James Wing only needed a detached house and a few nearby streets as filming locations, and the scene can be said to be very simple.

Perhaps it was the relationship between the recent filming of "Inception", and Matthew felt that the world that James Wing had built through the script was somewhat similar to the multi-consciousness space of "Inception".

When a person's soul is out of the body, his soul may enter the "other world", which is full of darkness and necromancers, and he must find a way to return to his body as soon as possible, because there are more necromancers wandering in the other world, longing for the body and resurrection, and if his soul is far away for too long, other necromancers will take over his body and resurrect it in his body. The necromancers carry their own memories and experiences, and they appear in different forms......

There are not many characters and content in the script, and it is basically a family.

Mr. and Mrs. Josh plus their daughter or son form a family of three, a demon who robs the body of an ungendered child character, and then an exorcist.

That's all the main characters, and the rest are soy sauce presences.

After reading the filming and production plan that followed, Matthew closed the script and asked, "James, why hasn't the Josh's child been gendered yet?"

James Wynn smiled embarrassedly, "I haven't decided whether this character is better for girls or boys yet." ”

"Oh?" Matthew didn't quite understand what he meant.

"In the setting, this is a child about eight or nine years old. James Win said in detail, "It's hard to find the right actor at this age, my idea, regardless of gender, the right actor to find is a boy, the role is a man, and vice versa." ”

Matthew nodded, didn't speak, but thought about it seriously for a while, and then said slowly, "I think ...... The girl seems to be a little better. ”

James Wynn didn't answer, waiting for Matthew to continue.

Matthew simply explained, "James, think about it, who is the biggest audience for horror films?"

The vast majority of horror films are R-rated, so the answer to this question is obvious, and James Win says directly, "Adult males." ”

"So......" said Matthew, smiling, spreading his hands, "a girl would be more popular." ”

James Wing didn't understand the meaning behind these words, and his face was full of doubt.

Matthew thought for a moment, and then said, "A lovely frightened poor girl is obviously more popular with this audience than a boy. ”

James Wynn suddenly realized, only thought for a second, then nodded in agreement, "Yes, Matthew, you're so right!" he couldn't help but laugh, "This character should be a girl!"

Determining the gender of a major character, Matthew turned the conversation to future productions, "Is $1.5 million enough?"

Low-budget horror films have always been typical of small and big, and he has some confidence in James Wing, since he wants to invest $1.5 million, it doesn't matter if he invests hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

James Wing shook his head, "One and a half million dollars is enough." He said very seriously, "Horror films don't need too high production costs, and if you can't use a limited budget to scare the audience, then it's difficult to succeed in horror films." ”

Matthew nodded slightly, "Then we'll keep the cost investment small." ”

James Wing continued, "I think that as long as the horror angle is in place, and those amazing special effects are discarded, and they can still scare the four seats, the horror film director should create infinite imagination and breakthroughs in limited resources. ”

"You're an expert in this area. "Matthew doesn't know much about horror films.

When he came to Hollywood, he actually only participated in the horror genre movie "Dawn of the Living Dead", and because he was the leading actor, the genre of the film tended to be more action.

James Wynn is not modest, and says confidently, "I have always believed that the most distinctive thing about horror movies is that a small detail can make a great difference. A creaking door, for example, is enough to send chills down the spine, and it costs very little. ”

Matthew agreed with James Win, saying, "Whether a story is scary or not depends on whether it scares you." ”

"yes. James Wynn pointed to the script and said, "I like to put what I think is the most terrifying scene in the script, such as the one I fear the most when I wake up in the middle of the night and suddenly find someone staring at the corner, which I use in this script." ”

Matthew instead asked, "When are you going to start planning?"

"Ray Warner has returned to his hometown for a vacation, and it is estimated that he will be back in about half a month. James Wynn said slowly, "When he comes back, we'll start building the crew." ”

Matthew nodded slightly, "I'll get the studio ready for funding." He looked at James Win, "James, I said to give you maximum authority not to interfere with your creation, and you are also the producer and director of this project. ”

James Wing knew what that meant and swore that "I promise to do my best." ”

Matthew asked again, "Is one year enough?"

"Enough. James Wing is confident, "I will start preparing next month, and I will be able to finish the film in May or June next year." ”

Matthew believes in James Win's ability, "Well, we'll release this film in time for Halloween next year." He thought for a moment and added, "If nothing else, the Warner Brothers will be the publisher of this 'Latent.' ”

This kind of film is obviously inappropriate to be handed over to Disney for operation, anyway, he and Warner Bros. also work closely together, and it is not a big problem to hand it over to Warner Bros. for distribution.

James Wynn scratched his head at this point and said, "I have two suitable candidates, regarding the male and female leads, Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson. ”

Matthew had heard James Win mention these two people before, saying, "It's good that you're in charge, actor." He also reminded, "About the little girl's actors, you must choose well." ”

"Well, I understand. James Wing nodded, "I don't have a very good candidate for this." Matthew, you have a lot of connections in the circle, can you help me find it?"

Matthew answered, "No problem. ”

This project called "Latent", Matthew will not interfere too much, except for the best financial supervision and other work, basically handed over to James Win.

He very much hopes that James Wing can release all the horror energy in his body and bring a horror movie similar to "Chainsaw" to help small investment and high output.

After James Wynne said goodbye and left, Matthew made a special call to Helen Herman and asked her to keep an eye out for the girl star born around 2000.

There are really not many young actors of this age who can act well, even if you look at Hollywood, it is a scarce resource.

The project that the studio invests in and produces, not only "Latent" needs young actors of this age.

Because she knew that it would be difficult to find, Sophia Coppola also commissioned Helen Herman to find the cast of Bella and Edward's daughter for "Twilight: Breaking Dawn" in advance.

There is a lot of overlap in the age groups between the two, and Matthew listened to Helen Herman's advice and if he could, it would be better to use the same actor for both projects.