After the last meeting, Disney handed over the script for the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean" to Cole Greid, and since Lance had been busy filming "Sin City", he never started to revise the script, let alone recreate it. However, Lance briefly flipped through the script, and sure enough, there was not much difference from the two sequels in the previous life.

So, Lance briefly elaborated on his idea of the two sequels, and Eric's eyes gradually became deeper, although the surface was not obvious, but the heart began to surge.

Sequel movies are a crucial part of Hollywood, especially after entering the 21st century, the gradual decline of excellent original scripts has also made sequel movies receive more and more attention. On the one hand, the first film has been a success and has accumulated a certain audience base; On the one hand, the character setting and story framework have won market recognition, and the sequel can avoid more risks.

To put it simply, the first element of a sequel is to circle money, not creativity, let alone art.

But how to make a good sequel is a problem that almost every film company must consider. Hollywood's first Universal Pictures, which will not develop sequel movies, has almost no decent sequels except for the "Jurassic Park" series, and in recent years, the "Fast and Furious" series, "Meet Your Father-in-law" series, and the "Spy Shadows" series have achieved good results, but objectively speaking, "Jurassic Park 3" is a disaster, and the "Fast and Furious 2" the year before last was far below expectations.

Of course, Lance knew the trajectory of the subsequent development, and the "Fast and Furious" series lost almost all vitality after the third installment, and later regained its vitality in the hands of Chinese director Lin/Yi/Bin, which created a miracle; After the fiasco of "Jurassic Park 3", it was directly silent for 14 years, and "Jurassic World" was reborn.

Even so, Universal Pictures is the least likely company to make a sequel to Hollywood's top major studios.

How do you make a good sequel? The current mainstream thinking in Hollywood is that, first of all, the pattern must be larger, free from the framework constraints of the previous work, and placed on a bigger stage; secondly, the story needs to progress, it is impossible to always spin in the same place, either the plot has advanced, or the relationship between the characters has changed, and dramatization is inevitable; Once again, the cast is larger and the special effects are more magnificent, and the shock brought to the audience must be upgraded.

Of course, it would be great if there was some innovation, but the so-called innovation must be based on the framework of the previous work and avoid deviating from the track of the success of the previous work. This makes it extremely difficult to create a sequel.

In short, sequels need to be in keeping with the Olympic spirit, "higher, faster, farther" and "bigger" – and critics hate sequel films, not just from an artistic point of view, but also from a commercial point of view, most of which are unsatisfactory even if they focus only on the quality of commercial films.

But now, Lance is contrary to the rules of the industry, not only does not "higher, faster, farther", but on the contrary, requires the pattern to be limited to a certain extent, which makes Eric a little puzzled: Is Lance extremely smart, or extremely stupid?

"So, you mean, eliminate all seven pirates?" Eric's tone seemed very playful, no questioning, no refutation, no surprise, just inquiry, as if he was a neutral person, not supporting Lance's idea, but not objecting, "Does this mean that the script for the third episode must be completely overturned and rewritten." ”

"Yes." After Lance thought about it roughly, he found that the script of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: The End of the World" was really too bloated, and it was just an adjustment, which could not achieve the goal at all, and it had to be adjusted at the framework level, "My idea is to divide into two branches, one is to go to the end of the world to save Captain Jack Sparrow, and the other is to command the Governor to command David Jones to dominate the world. ”

With an understatement, Lance directly cut the current "End of the World" script by more than half, even if Eric is not the person involved, he couldn't help but gasp, "But in this case, won't the story pattern be smaller than the second episode?" The whole majestic momentum can't be lifted at all. Eric asked, with a hint of curiosity, that he was really starting to wonder how Lance would change the script - whether Disney would agree, and how Jerry and the others would fight, was not Eric's concern.

"No, my direction is this, the first is Captain Jack Sparrow fighting Barbossa, and the Governor is only a supporting character; The second part shows two pirate captains fighting the 'Flying Dutchman' David Jones, and the ending is a defeat for both sides, with Captain Jack Sparrow banished to the end of the world and David Jones charged by the Governor, and the third part becomes a stage where the two sides are pitted against each other, and the struggle for maritime supremacy will become the core idea. ”

This is the difference between Lance and Disney, he stands high enough to connect the three works in series, so that the content of the three works can echo each other, and at the same time does not aimlessly flood the story in order to create a big picture, and the whole series becomes bloated.

"So, in the second part, we needed to compress some of the patterns and focus all the special effects on the final battle of life and death. By the third part, the end of the world needs to be one of the core contents, and we can divide it into two main lines, one is Captain Jack Sparrow's self-fighting, and the other is the rescue team organized by Will and Elizabeth, and the two sides come together; Another central element is the Governor's mobilization of David Jones and the beginning of sweeping through the various forces in the seas. ”

Eric was stunned, he was not a screenwriter, and his thoughts couldn't keep up with Lance, so he couldn't help frowning, "Wait, in that case, wouldn't the Seven Pirates still exist?" Sweeping the sea power, this is also a different pirate force? ”

Lance chuckled and shook his head, "No, in the original script, the Seven Pirates were one of the main characters, and they banded together against David Jones, and then waited for Jack Sparrow to appear. But the problem with this is that in the first half hour of the story, Jack Sparrow does not appear. God knows that the reason people watch this movie is for this cunning and evil captain, not for those pirates whose names they can't remember. Not only does this weaken Captain Jack Sparrow's position as the protagonist, but the large number of pale and feeble characters only makes the story boring. ”

Eric was stunned, "Then what do you mean......" He could vaguely understand Lance's thoughts, but from the perspective of the rulers, he was still worried that the pattern was too small and the scene was too small to support the final chapter of the trilogy.

"I think that the so-called seven pirates can all be cannon fodder, we can give them names, but we don't need to create characters, because these characters will eventually become the object of David Jones crushing, the Governor's stepping stone to achieve supremacy at sea, using these cannon fodder characters to create a sense of urgency, on the one hand, it is difficult to save Captain Jack Sparrow at the end of the world, and on the other hand, the Governor is destroying the world, and the two feelings of urgency come together, and after Captain Jack Sparrow is finally freed, with the Governor, David Jones at the top of his game against ......"

Lance didn't continue to talk about it, but looked at Eric with a smile, and this time Eric completely understood, "Really detonate all the highs/tides." ”

If according to Lance, the framework structure of the whole story is reduced, but the pattern created is a higher level than the first two episodes, especially the creation of the atmosphere and the control of the rhythm, which will completely explode when the high/high tide arrives. This will undoubtedly make the movie more refined and at the same time more exciting. What's more, it also makes the trilogy complete, not too out-of-the-box and not too conservative.

Prior to this, the scripts of "City of God", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Murder by a Knife" were all written by Reims, and the Oscars were nominated for two consecutive years. But these are literal things, and today Eric really feels Lance's control over the script, with endless whimsy and control over the frame and pacing. At the last meeting, Jerry thought that the success of "the day after tomorrow" was just a coincidence, more of a publicity victory, but at this time Eric disagreed, Lance's directing ability was far better than he imagined.

"But why do you do that?" Eric couldn't help but ask, "I mean, I see what you mean, but...... Why? Isn't that more troublesome? And it's also more difficult in the screenwriting process. The control and foreshadowing of this line at the end of the world will become extremely difficult. ”

If you create according to the original idea, in fact, the script will become very simple, and the addition of new characters such as pirates and witches only needs to be written along the story line, and the script can be completed quickly, and it doesn't take much time at all. But now Lance is obviously making trouble for himself, giving up shortcuts and choosing to challenge himself.

"Because Captain Jack Sparrow is the soul of the film's success." Lance's answer sent Eric deep in thought.

After nearly two decades of disappearance, why pirate movies can rely on "Pirates of the Caribbean" to regain their glory is a matter of opinion among industry insiders, and Lance's statement is also one of them.

But more people still think that the sea adventure plus the maverick protagonist, as well as the iron triangle and the charm of a number of supporting characters, is the criterion for success. So when the writers wrote the script, they added a lot of scenes to the first popular character Barbossa, and also added more small supporting characters with personality.

Lance, however, now came up with a different idea, and his voice was so unwavering. Eric couldn't help but believe that Lance was right.

Thinking of this, he raised his head and looked at Lance carefully, he was surprised not by Lance's talent, but by Lance's firmness and self-confidence, and even he, after just twenty minutes of conversation, was convinced in the blink of an eye. Obviously, Lance is not a simple director or screenwriter.

Thinking around in his mind, Eric said, "I heard that the director of 'X-Men 3' has changed again, I heard that Thomas is very optimistic about you, it seems that in the next period of time, you will be very selective in choosing scripts, I hope we have a chance to work together." (To be continued.) )