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Less than a week later, the owner of the Burbank house came to Los Angeles from Europe to close a real estate deal with Matthew, who owned a property entirely of his own in the United States, and by what used to be the case for a man who owns a house, is truly attractive to a woman.

Although he gradually got used to life here, Matthew was in a good mood when he took the house, and he deliberately named this small house.

However, he couldn't think of any elegant names, so he named them after the ivy on the outer wall.

The name of the residence has since become Ivy.

On the day of Matthew's naming, Zack Schneider, who is now gradually becoming famous in the film industry, came to the door.

"Done researching?"

In the living room, Matthew brought Zack Schneider a glass of water, Zack Schneider untied the briefcase he was carrying, put it on the coffee table, and said, "I have studied it carefully, and this illustration by Frank Miller is very suitable for my style adaptation!"

He took the glass of water from Matthew, thanked him, and said, "Leonidas, the main character in the illustration, is a born hero, a character tailored to you at all. ”

Matthew sat down on another single couch and said, "I've seen the illustrations too, and I like Leonidas very much." ”

"So, Matthew. Zack Schneider said that before, just to set the stage for the present, "Let's work together again! You know my philosophy, and you know what kind of work I want to make! I also know your characteristics, and I know what kind of role you can play best." ”

"Zach, I told you before. Matthew said very sincerely, "We have the same philosophy and will not continue to cooperate."

God's will not agree. ”

"You're right!" Zack Schneider breathed a visibly relieved sigh of relief, "we must continue to work together." ”

He knew that it would be difficult for his ideas to be recognized by the industry, and if he didn't pull in a person who was big enough and appealing enough, it would be difficult to realize these ideas, and in the end, he could only shoot a film that was not his style at all, like "Dawn of the Living Dead".

Matthew turned to the topic and asked, "Zach, you've studied the interjection, do you have any specific ideas?"

Zack Schneider opened his briefcase, took out a few sketches, and handed them to Matthew, "I already have a frame. ”

After taking the draft, Matthew opened it and looked at it, this is an enlarged version of the storyboard artwork, the tone and background of the artwork are very, very similar to what Zack Schneider used to in the film in his memory.

There weren't many drawings, only five, but when he saw the last one, his eyes lit up.

The last few of the three hundred warriors died in a volley of arrows, and it was probably Leonidas's strong man who was hit by several arrows and still roared angrily.

The content is very ordinary, but with the unique color of the drawing, it gives people a kind of passionate tragedy.

Even, when Matthew looked at this sketch, he felt far more than the paintings in the exhibition a few days ago, the hero may not be the one who had the last laugh, the sketch was a massacre of the Spartans by the Persians, but it was shocking.

If nothing else, Zack Schneider's painting skills are quite good.

Of course, this is only Matthew's point of view, and in the painting world, Zack Schneider's tragic sketch may not be worth a few inexplicable lines of those postmodernist painters.

Matthew stared at the sketch, and suddenly remembered the information of the original author Frank Miller, tragic heroic epics are the genre that Frank Miller is best at creating, and his representative works are always full of tragic heroes.

For example, in the famous comic "The Return of the Black Knight", which supported the legend of Batman in an era, the aging Bruce Wayne has retired for many years, but for various reasons he has to reappear and fight against various evil forces, the climax of which is the aging protagonist fighting his former comrade-in-arms Superman.

The characters that Frank Miller is best at portraying are those tragic heroes who no matter how hard they try, they always lose hopelessly to fate in the end, they lose the final battle, but win the hearts and minds of the people.

There is no doubt that Leonidas is this type.

"I was in contact with Frank Miller last month. Zack Snyder, seeing Matthew's gaze off the storyboard, said, "I asked him about buying the rights to interject the adaptation." ”

Matthew immediately put down the sketch and asked, "Did he agree to sell it?"

Zack Schneider shook his head, "Frank Miller turned me down. He thought for a moment and elaborated, "I went to New York last month and found Frank Miller to talk to him about cooperation, but Frank Miller was very repulsive, saying that "Sparta" 300 Warriors meant a lot to him, it was the shining pinnacle of his career, and he couldn't tolerate his brainchild's work being adapted into a boring film like "Troy." ”

"What about the price increase?" Matthew said directly, "We can jointly fund and buy the film adaptation rights of this illustration." ”

Zack Schneider shook his head again, "It's not about money, and Frank Miller isn't short of money." Although it will definitely cost a lot of money to buy the adaptation rights, if we can't impress Frank Miller, even if we offer a high price of 10 million dollars, Frank Miller may not sell us the adaptation rights. ”

Matthew cupped his chest with one hand and lifted his chin with the other, thinking.

Zack Schneider had talked to Matthew about funding before, knowing that he had a lot of money in his hands, and if Frank Millerken nodded, it would definitely not be a problem for the two to work together to buy the film rights to "The Three Hundred Warriors of Sparta".

"Do you have any good ways to convince Frank Miller?" asked Matthew.

Once Zack Snyder was able to direct this film, regardless of who the filmmaker was, he must have persuaded Frank Miller, and it is estimated that Frank Miller himself recognized Zack Schneider as a director.

"I have an idea, but it's a bit expensive. Zack Snyder glanced at Matthew, saw that he had no objection, and continued, "Frank Miller's biggest concern is the style of the film adaptation, so we just need to dispel his doubts in this regard, and the conversation will go much smoother later." ”

He picked up his glass, took a sip of water, and said, "That's what I intended, I'll shoot a few shots that match the style of the illustration and let Frank Miller see it for himself, maybe it will impress him." ”

Matthew thought for a moment and said, "Yes, that's a way to do that. ”

Zack Schneider put down his glass, smiled, and said, "The shooting was done on a green screen, and then I found a special effects studio to deal with it, and the shooting cost can be borne by me personally, but I need actors, actors with very good figures." ”

Matthew didn't think about it, so he said, "Since we want to cooperate, I'll be an actor for you." ”

Zack Schneider nodded, "Matthew, with you, it's even more persuasive." ”

"That's it......" Matthew quickly decided, "My stylist can be used for make-up during the shoot temporarily, and we can hire other actors, and I have a good relationship with Disney Studios in terms of venue, so it's no problem to rent a small studio at Disney Studios for a few days." ”

He paused for a moment and then said, "But it's going to take a while to shoot, and I've had work to do lately." ”

"I know, you're going to be getting ready to shoot 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith.' Zack Schneider has been following Matthew's dynamics, which is the biggest guarantee that he can shoot the ideal film, "We can wait until we are busy with Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and I also have to do some preparations." ”

Although it was only a few preview shots, there was a lot of preparation to be done, such as renting cameras, designing scenes, contacting the special effects studio, and so on.

Zack Snyder, seeing that Matthew fully supported him, had already made up his mind to give it a try even if he used up the salary he got for directing "Dawn of the Living Dead".

"Yes. Matthew pondered for a moment, then said, "Zach, if there's something you need my help with, just ask." ”

He also has his own plans, if he can jointly buy the film adaptation rights of "The Three Hundred Warriors of Sparta" with Zack Snyder, when he cooperates with the film company, he will have a certain amount of negotiation capital, maybe he can also serve as a producer and bring money into the group.

"Spartan 300 Warriors" can make Zack Snyder popular, and let his typical Zack Snyder style enter a top production like "Batman v Superman", it will definitely be a big hit at the box office.

It just so happens that he still has a large amount of cash flow in his hands, and if he invests in the starring film, it should be feasible to a certain extent.

Of course, Matthew also knows that this is not easy, after all, if he gets the adaptation rights, he still has to be able to impress other film companies, and he and Zack Snyder do not have the capital and ability to make films alone, let alone distribution, which is far more important than production.

In fact, the most ideal state is that Zack Snyder can impress Frank Miller, and then he starred in "National Treasure" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" box office hits, so that even if he can't reach the first-line position, he can get infinitely close, and the successive successes will also make the film company full of confidence in him, and it will be easier to talk about cooperation.

Matthew and Zack Snyder talked all afternoon in the living room and talked about a lot of specific things.

Frankly, Matthew was very unprofessional outside of the actor, so after sending Zack Schneider away, he immediately contacted Helen Herman, and went to the angel agency to talk to Helen Herman until it was close to midnight.

Compared with Matthew, Helen Herman is undoubtedly a real professional, and she is also somewhat interested in this project, ready to talk to Zach Schneider in person, and told Matthew that she will follow up on this matter for the time being, and he will still focus on the filming of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".