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"Do you think Superman Returns will fail?"

Bruce Berman's tone is a little unkind, this is a project he single-handedly promoted, the investment is not small, and he has encountered a series of difficulties, and now he is finally on the right track, but he is inevitably a failure to be commented on in person, and his mood is definitely not much better.

"Did I say that?" Murphy shook his head, "I don't know anything about the Superman Returns project, and even if I wanted to comment, would you believe it?" ”

This sentence instantly eased the atmosphere in the conference room, and Murphy added, "I'm talking about Christopher Reeve's Superman 4." ”

"Hmm......" Bruce Berman nodded, no longer caring about the topic, and turned to "Batman", "I understand, your idea is to shatter the tall image of Batman that we and DC Comics have created for decades, and let him fall to the bottom?" ”

"Suffice it to say," Murphy has no need to deny it, and if the ideas can't be coordinated, there will only be more problems later, "Except for Batman's disguise, Bruce Wayne is first and foremost a human being, a flesh and blood body with ordinary flaws. ”

Bruce Berman doesn't want to listen to it anymore, which is completely contrary to Warner Bros.'s positioning of Batman, and it is also very different from the first four films, and it must come with a super high risk, such a risk that neither Warner Bros. nor the "Batman" series can not bear.

There has never been a superhero movie like Murphy Stanton has ever succeeded, and no superhero movie has been in this style unless he's crazy enough to adopt the other party's utterly ridiculous approach.

He looked at Diego Harris, who also happened to be looking at him, and the two shook their heads in unison.

What else does Murphy want to say, after all, if he can win the "Batman" series, his future road will definitely be smoother.

But Bruce Berman didn't give him a chance anymore, and said directly, "Director Stanton, we already have a general understanding of your philosophy, so let's stop here today, Warner Bros. and DC Comics will give you an answer after discussion." ”

At this point, Murphy didn't say anything, nodded and packed his briefcase, and prepared to say goodbye to Bill Rothes and leave.

Unexpectedly, Bruce Berman asked the staff member to put away the materials that had been distributed before and pushed them directly to Murphy, "Take these with you." ”

This has been very clear and very resolute to tell Murphy that Warner Bros. and DC Comics have no intention of working with him at all.

The two sides could not agree on the most basic production concept, and nothing else could be discussed.

"All right, Mr. Berman." Putting away the papers and stuffing them into his briefcase, Murphy stood up and held out his hand to Bruce Berman, "Goodbye." ”

"Goodbye." Bruce Berman shook his hand, his squinted eyes suddenly opened again, and added, "I wish you all the best in your future career." ”

Murphy had been rejected by him, and immediately tasted something different from this sentence.

"Thank you." He smiled calmly and added, "I wish the "Superman Returns" you promoted will be a big hit." ”

With that, Murphy shook his head at Billy Rossis, and the two walked straight out of the reception room.

He's already seen that it's not just a philosophical disagreement between the two sides, Bruce Berman obviously doesn't treat him very well, and it's basically impossible to work with Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

After Murphy and Bill Rothes left, there was a moment of silence in the room, and then a man sitting at the very edge of the long table said, "Don't you really think about it?" I just looked at the proposal and it looks pretty good. ”

"Is there a need to think about it?" Bruce Berman looked over there and said, "Not to mention that his setting of Bruce Wayne is unacceptable at all, it's just his own directing style that is a problem!" ”

He seemed to be saying to everyone, "Have you seen the four films he directed? With a strong personal touch! Do superhero movies need a personal touch? It's impossible to make a film with such a big budget and a big production cost less than $100 million, and it's not the 90s anymore, and in this era of rampant special effects, too strong personal style will only narrow the audience. ”

"Bruce makes a lot of sense," DC Comics CEO Diego Harris fully agrees, "this is the Batman series, not Sin City, and such a movie is bound to be a mass film, not a niche cult film!" ”

"Murphy Stanton is indeed a very characteristic director," Bruce Berman further said, "but the style is too niche, and he will only bring disaster to Batman, and if it fails, how many more years will we have to seal the series before the audience forgets the failure?" Ten years or twenty years? ”

The others nodded their heads, and the words of Bruce Berman and Diego Harris were not unreasonable.

"Also, don't forget about our money chain." Bruce Berman easily found a whole bunch of very reasonable reasons to hide his prejudice against a person, "Catwoman, Superman Returns, and Troy have already drained us of our liquidity, and we don't have any more money to invest in a blockbuster production. ”

After hearing this, the previous person nodded and said, "It's really not the best time to reboot the Batman series. ”

However, his gaze hidden under the brown glasses kept flickering, obviously not very much with Bruce Berman's words, but the opponent's high position was not something he could fight against at all.

"Our focus is still on Superman Returns!" Bruce Berman said confidently, "As long as this series can be resurrected, our superhero movie will be enough to overwhelm the surprise." Don't forget, this is Superman, the most influential superhero in the United States and even the world! ”

Murphy Stanton's words are vaguely not optimistic about the project he leads, this is simply a joke, does a cult film director know how to shoot and produce mainstream commercial films? Warner Bros. couldn't help but invest more than $200 million in production costs, and he also specially poached Brian Singh, who specializes in superhero filmmaking......

Even if the "Batman" series is rebooted in the future, it is necessary to find a director like Brian Singer who has experience in successful superhero films, rather than a niche cult film director like Murphy Stanton.

"Alright, that's all for this." Bruce Berman was the first to stand up, "If CAA and Brian Lauder call and ask, tell them that Murphy Stanton has a philosophical difference with Warner Bros. and that the style is not appropriate for the Batman franchise." ”

He also left the room.

Outside the Warner Building, Murphy and Bill Rothes were in the same car.

"I didn't expect things to go so badly," Bill Rothes started the car and slowly drove into the avenue, "Warner Bros. didn't even leave us any room for follow-up. ”

Murphy threw the briefcase into the back seat and fastened his seat belt, "Actually, in the conference room, I had a bad feeling when I saw Bruce Berman. ”

Hearing this, Bill Rothes also thought about it and asked, "You've seen Bruce Berman before, and I have a feeling he's a little targeted at you." ”

"When I first got out of prison, I applied for a job on the set of "The Matrix"," Murphy didn't hide it, and said directly, "Bruce Berman seems to have a lot of power and rejected me." ”

He told Bill Rossis about what came to mind.

"I see," Bill Rossis nodded after listening to Murphy's description, "It's not surprising, you've made achievements now, and if this matter is publicized, some people will underestimate his vision of people, and for a CEO who controls the major decision-making power of a film company, looking at people's eyes is sometimes very important." ”

"Of course," he said with a smile, "it's possible that Bruce Berman just doesn't like you." However, I think it was you who accidentally mentioned Superman, which may have caused disgust in his heart. ”

Everyone in the industry knows that Bruce Berman is ambitious and wants to reproduce the glory of DC Comics movies, and he especially chose the breakthrough on Superman, the world's No. 1 superhero.

Murphy felt innocent, "I really didn't mean to allude to 'Superman Returns.'" ”

He is not stupid, how could he inexplicably allude to this masterpiece in preparation, which is actually "Superman 4" that caused the interruption of the Superman series.

"Warner Bros. and DC Comics refused even more resolutely than Marvel Comics," Bill Rothes drove onto the road to Beverly Hills, "Do you have a backup plan?" ”

"Absolutely!" Murphy didn't even think about it, "Let's go back to the Marvel comics." ”

"Turn back to the Marvel comics?" Bill Rothes shook his head, "They won't talk to us, and they won't transfer those famous superheroes." ”

"I know, so we're not going to talk to Marvel Comics." Loosening his seat belt, Murphy looked ahead and said, "Bill, you seem to have forgotten, there are still many superheroes in Marvel Comics that have been sold, and now they want to buy it back but can't get it back, and the copyright of our new target is in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox." ”

It's just a backup plan, and if it's possible, Murphy would prefer "Batman", and the problem is that it's copyright, and it's not something he can decide.

"Let's go to the Fox Building." Murphy said, "Go find Carla Fez." ”

When the car arrived in Century City, he hung up the phone on Carla Fez, and then went straight to Carla Fez's office.

"Rejected?" Carla Firth asked the secretary to bring coffee to the two, "Looks like your plans are changing again." ”

Murphy sat back on the couch, and on the coffee table in front of him was some of the materials that Carla Firth had just been reading, which seemed to have something to do with the Crusades or something.

"Don't mind, do you?" Murphy asked, pointing.

"Whatever," Carla Firth walked over and sat down across from him, "this is the magnum opus that Twentieth Century Fox is preparing for." (To be continued.) )