When people think of Brazil, many words come to mind, color, samba, football, beach, beauty, laid-back, self-satisfied...... In this way, the blue sea and blue sky, and the enthusiastic and unrestrained Brazil has become the most unique scenery on the South American continent; Rio de Janeiro, the "capital of the carnival", opened its friendly arms and embraced people from all over the world, and the Brazilian said, "God spent six days creating the world, and the seventh day creating Rio de Janeiro".

But only those who have actually arrived in this land know that this is definitely not the only face of Brazil; Only those who have actually lived in this land know that behind this passionate soil, there is darkness that goes deep into the bone marrow. Turbulent gang violence, blatant drug trafficking, black and white wolf bèi, and a filthy pauper's life...... Just a few streets away from Rio de Janeiro's turquoise waters is a slum at the bottom of society, where crime is committed almost every day.

Paul Lins' novel "City of God" tells the story of a slum called the City of God in the inner city of Rio de Janeiro. Born at the bottom of the slums, Paul spent eight years conducting interviews and collecting information about the drug trade, a total of 10 years to complete the novel. Its authenticity, profundity, and reflection have all been enthusiastically sought after, making it one of the best-selling novels in Brazil.

In fact, many Brazilians, and even locals who have lived in Rio de Janeiro for many years, were blown away by this novel.

People are always confined to their own life circles, thinking that they have enough knowledge of the world around them, but in fact, there is still a certain gap between the life of the middle class and the bottom of society, and the so-called state, law, citizenship, education, future and future are only abstract concepts.

The novel "City of God" profoundly reveals the cruel realities of racial segregation, bloody violence, and lack of education in Brazilian society, and the accelerating social divisions have made violent crime a trivial matter, which has a strong impact on the ideology of many middle classes.

The film adaptation of the "City of God" "City of God" is such a special film, its protagonist is not a specific character, but this slum called the City of God, which tells a history of this entire area, tells dozens of tangled stories that take place here, and shows a completely new and untouched territory, real and brutal.

After its release, "City of God" was a great success, not only reviving the Brazilian film industry, but also becoming a representative of Brazilian cinema together with "Central Station" and becoming famous all over the world; At the same time, it also gave people a certain understanding of the social roots of the chaotic form in Brazil, which caused a wide and far-reaching sensation in Brazil.

On the 76th Oscars, "City of God" was nominated for four nominations, including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing, as a foreign language film. It's a pity that due to the release time, the deadline for the best foreign language film was missed. It is widely believed that if it were not for this, this work would be the strongest contender for the best foreign language film of the year.

In addition, what is sad is that when "City of God" was released in North America, the publicity was not in place, it did not attract too much attention, and then it missed the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and the director did not get any closer at the box office, only earning only $7.5 million. Although this achievement is already very good compared to the investment of 3.3 million yuan in the film, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the film's later performance in the videotape market.

After the rise of the Internet era, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), which can best reflect the authority of the audience and the power of fans, has justified the name of "City of God", and the score of this work is as high as 8.6 points, ranking in the top 20 in IMDB's most authoritative list of 250 films for more than ten years, firmly occupying the top spot of non-English films!

Previously, Lance had a little hope - hoping to find a suitable project among these six novels and become a platform for him to start anew, but unexpectedly, he dug a gold mine! A real gold mine!

If "Lost in Translation" is a masterpiece, then "City of God" is definitely a classic!

"City of God" as the work of Reims's comeback is really a suitable choice, and it can definitely be called a blockbuster or a blockbuster. Of course, the best-case scenario is that Lance will also grab "Lost in Tokyo" and then make the "City of God" independently, but Lance also knows that this is too greedy. Don't say that Ryan will never let go of "Lost in Tokyo" lightly, even if Lance succeeds in taking the tiger's mouth, with his current funds and resources, it is simply impossible to produce two works at the same time.

If he had to choose between "Lost in Tokyo" or "City of God", Lance would not hesitate to choose the latter. And now Lance has a firm grip on the rights to the adaptation of "City of God", which can definitely be a sleepy pillow.

Feeling a little too excited, Lance carefully flipped through the relevant materials of the novel "City of the Gods", and found that he had bought the rights to the adaptation of the novel in 1998 - when they introduced "Grand Central Terminal" to the North American market with great success, so Lance persuaded Paul to take the rights. However, Lance has not been able to find a suitable screenwriter to carry out the adaptation work.

"City of God" is a work with distinctly Brazilian characteristics, and a screenwriter who can do this job must have a deep understanding of Brazilian culture, politics, economy, and pattern, as well as a deep understanding of the background and language used in the novel. But how easy is that said?

Later, Lance himself began to experiment with script adaptation. Lance studied Spanish at Cambridge University, where he studied literature and culture in the Spanish department, and even studied some Latin. Although Portuguese is spoken in Brazil, Reims decided to give it a try.

For the past three years, Lance has spent one or two months in Rio de Janeiro to talk to Paulo, the author of the original book, to immerse himself in local life and, most importantly, to visit the City of God.

Despite this, the adaptation of the script is still not complete. Only half-finished scripts were found in the materials. This semi-finished product is sandwiched in a notebook, only one-third of which is completed, but the dense notebook notes in the notebook have consumed two-thirds of the entire book, and it can be seen that Lance attaches great importance and seriousness to this script. As for the quality of the script...... It will take a closer look to draw conclusions.

Lance took the notebook and was a little stunned for a moment. He couldn't help but start thinking, if he hadn't worn/crossed over in the previous life, would Lance have a chance to rise again? Even with Ryan's suppression, even with George's betrayal, even with Lance's own ignorance of the world, but ......

"Found the treasure?" Percy's voice interrupted Lance's thoughts, and he nodded, handing Percy the novel "City of God" to Percy, "I think this novel has a lot of potential." ”

Percy took the novel and flipped through it, but didn't stop asking, "So have you decided?" Do you want to start a new production company on your own, or do you want to work with a big studio? Percy glanced up at Lance.

After leaving the cemetery today, Lance himself has been thinking about this problem, he has thought of countless possibilities, and on the whole, working with a big studio is the most suitable and convenient way. After all, Lance is now reopening a production company on his own, and it is definitely not an easy task to catch up with Diorama Pictures in a short period of time; And with the rapid rise of Diorama Pictures, there is not much time left for him. Although cooperating with a big studio is bound to be constrained, it is the easiest choice from the perspective of short-term benefits.

Now the "City of God" script is back in front of us.

The filming of this work is definitely not easy, first of all, it is bound to be filmed in Rio de Janeiro, which involves thorny issues such as official cooperation and transnational cooperation; Secondly, it is better to shoot the film in the slums, where the local gangs will bear the brunt, not to mention the poor security and high crime rate in the surrounding area.

Therefore, if you want to shoot "City of God", it is wisest to seek the cooperation of a well-established production company, and it is better to have a large production company with experience in shooting overseas - otherwise it is not a good sign that you will arrive in Brazil with a blank eye.

But herein lies the problem, "City of God" is not a work that is easy for major film companies to look at.

As of 2002, only six non-English films had grossed more than $20 million in North America, of which only two made $40 million, one for China's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and one for Italy's "Life is Beautiful."

In addition, the space for non-English-language films at the awards ceremony is very limited - most of the works are classified as the best foreign language film, and the thousands of troops are crammed into a single-plank bridge, which is enough to cause headaches for anyone.

In short, there is very little room for non-English language films in North America, and the benefits of recycling are so limited that no major production companies are willing to put the effort into it. Normally, only small studios would have worked tirelessly around the world in search of opportunities in the early stages of their careers – and that's how Diorama Pictures was born.

Considering the cost of the "City of God" movie, although the film only cost three million dollars, he simply can't come up with such a large amount of cash now. So...... It's a tricky nutshell.

Lance decided to try to adapt the script first and then say, "Let's hold the chips in our hands first!" Percy couldn't help but be stunned by the unexpected answer, and he didn't react to the meaning of Lance's words for a while, but he saw that the confident light in Lance's eyes was flickering and shining.