"That's our new playbook." When Levy took out the script, he realized that he had made some small mistakes: this script was still in Chinese, and Clark didn't understand it at all, so he could only dictate this script to Clark little by little.

After listening to Levy's account, Clark sat there, not saying a word for a while. The way he frowned made Levy a little surprised, and his appearance didn't look like a surprise.

"You don't like the story?"

"No, how could it be? Don't forget, I'm also a graduate of New York University, and I've studied enough Scorsese films, and I'm very fond of gangster films, especially such novel gangster films - it's just that I've always thought that the focus of gangster films should be that people don't succumb to fate, fight and roar against fate, and this is the first time I've seen such a confused theme made into a gangster film. ”

"You did watch too many Scorsese movies," Levy said with a smile before handing the script to Clark, "The script was brought back from Asia, and I haven't had time to translate it yet, I've already told you the synopsis, and I'll show you the storyboards on the script." ”

Clark waved his hand and took the script, but stopped Levy's explanation, he flipped through the script casually, and also asked the question again, "Nick, I really don't know, can you still understand Chinese?" ”

"What's strange? You know that there are a lot of good movies in Hong Kong, and it's a loss not to read their scripts. ”

Clark just shrugged his shoulders at Levy's explanation. He sat there quietly. Flipping through the script in front of him, he was speechless for a long time before he spoke. "You told me that you found a script in Asia, and I thought that at a film festival, you met a certain oriental literary film director, and then he was influenced by him and had the idea to make a new film. But you want to shoot it. It turned out to be such a movie...... It was really unexpected for me. ”

"To be honest, I didn't expect you to prepare such a movie, let alone that. You don't even have a full-fledged script, and you're already talking to me about what to do. How much do you really love this movie script? It's amazing. ”

Levy shrugged and didn't answer: he didn't love the script, he loved the movie.

"The story of the police and the gangsters entering each other's undercover agents...... Nick. The story. It's very different from your previous movies. Clark closed the script, "I can't read Chinese, but I can understand the sub-shots, and I understand the story, so let me tell you my opinion." ”

Levy stretched out his hand and motioned for him to speak.

"You said you liked the movie a lot, you watched the storyboard. I can probably understand it - the storyboard is very detailed and excellent. First of all, my thoughts: I agree with you that you think this movie is great, and I can even see your thoughts and ambitions here to pay homage to the godfather. But, Nick, if this movie is going to be filmed, let me ask a few questions first. Clark's face was a little solemn, "I also probably thought that you should come to me first to discuss the intention of changing the script instead of going to Bob first." ”

"Oh? What did you think of? ”

"Yes, because the biggest difficulty in this movie is not the script, but the filming of the movie. What you're afraid of is not that the script is not changed well, but that the movie is not made well. Clark took the script and flipped through the storyboards as he spoke, "First of all, this is not an art film." This movie is closer to a commercial film, and a commercial film needs to be stronger in rhythm. You do a good job of making a slow-paced movie, but this kind of movie needs a faster pace, and some places, such as a few dead people's places, need to burst out with greater emotions at the time, and you have to think about how to shoot these places. Moreover, if this film is filmed, it will inevitably be multi-lined, and it is more difficult to shoot a film with multi-line advancement, and how to ensure that the narrative structure is clear and smooth is also a big problem. ”

"You're right." Levy nodded, agreeing with Clarke's first statement.

Most of the films that Levy has shot before are single-threaded, and even if there are intersections, most of them are movies that are not fast-paced. But now, to shoot a dual-threaded commercial film, it requires a lot of parallel, cross-montage combination, how to use these techniques, to ensure that the film narrative is clear, and at the same time make the picture natural and smooth enough, this is also a problem.

"Then, the second question, the film is no longer a single-protagonist movie. As far as you said, and what I saw, in this movie, there are at least two people who are the protagonists: both undercover agents have very heavy scenes. At the same time, the bosses of the two of them also have a very heavy role, and they can even be said to be not weaker than the protagonist. Then you have to take into account a problem: these four people need to show their own personalities, and at the same time, they can't be overwhelmed by the people who play with them, so how these four people distribute the scenes and how to draw them reasonably is a big problem. Nick, your three movies are all with a single protagonist, in Truman's world and Angel Amelie, almost all the other characters can be represented by ABCD, although the eavesdropping storm is different, but the role of one side is completely overwhelming the other, and it is not a double line in the real sense. And in this play, the scenes of the police and bandits are almost the same, and two different characters are shown at the same time, can you do it? This is also a big problem. ”

This point is even more important than the previous one. Levy has made three films, but his films are still all films with a single protagonist. It is true that his movies can be praised by actors, but this is largely because the actors' roles are enough.

And if this movie is filmed, it can be said that it is no longer a one-man show, but a big stage for four people. The most taboo scene between the two heroes is that one person is completely overwhelmed by another person in the performance, but there are many scenes of this kind of being completely overwhelmed: bravely entering the island of death, changing his face, Cage is overwhelmed, and in the night interview with the vampire, Pete is completely overwhelmed by Liangtang. There are four people in this movie, there is a confrontation between the gang boss and the police boss in the police station, there is a tentative exchange between the gang boss and the gang undercover, there is a rooftop conversation between the police boss and the gangster undercover, there is a conversation between the police boss and the police undercover agent, and there is a dialogue between two undercover agents on the rooftop - these four people, almost two by two, have a head-to-head confrontation, showing the charm of the four people, so that no one will be overwhelmed by others, which is also very important.

"Then there's the issue of acting. Although these people are not the absolute protagonists, the pressure of the performance is very heavy. In this play, the bosses on both sides have to show a certain domineering and personal charm, and the two undercover agents are basically performing the whole play-within-a-play, and as a battle of wit, they need more eyes and line skills, these actors are not easy to find. ”

The problem of actors naturally has to be one of the key issues that need attention. The number and quality of actors in this movie are too demanding, and Clark can't think of a suitable person in his heart.

"There's nothing wrong with that." Levy nodded again, "Anything else?" ”

"I'm not worried about the rest of it. For example, in the scene of eating at the police station, I want to use the gangster boss's enthusiasm for food and the smoke from the police station boss smoking to express a worldly pursuit and a pursuit of ideals, right? There is also a rooftop meeting, the strong contrast between the blue sky and the dilapidated rooftop environment, is to show the difference in the mood of the two people, right? These details, I'm sure you can do well. The main problem is the three I mentioned earlier. Nick, I can see that you probably want to make a transformation when you make this movie, you want to make some movies with more popular tastes, but you have to be careful, the difficulty of this movie is not ordinary. ”

Filming a movie is not everything with a good script, and the level of the director is also a very important aspect. Just looking at the script for this movie, Clark has already noticed too many differences from Levy's previous scripts. The requirements for editing, shooting, the requirements for the control and grasp of the actors, the requirements for the acting skills of the actors, and the requirements for the rhythm of the ...... Enigma now has good enough hardware to handle everything a movie, but does Levy have the software to make it?

"Nick, as far as this movie goes, I think it's a good movie. However, as far as you are concerned, I don't know if I should persuade you to make this movie. This film was very difficult to shoot. As a movie fan, I want to see this movie, but as your friend, I don't know if I should advise you to make it. Have you really thought about it and want to shoot it? ”

"Clark, it's not you asking me now, it's me asking you: You think I'm unlikely to shoot well, so will you still help me?"

After listening to Clark's words, Levy did not immediately explain or refute, on the contrary, he asked Clark a question with a smile.

Levy's question made Clark raise an eyebrow, and his expression changed slightly. Levy's smile says it all: it's not that Levy hasn't thought about these things, he may have thought about them earlier than himself, it's just that he has enough self-confidence for this movie.

The film is a gangster film - in terms of the chosen subject matter, Levy's ambition was aimed at the top of the film pyramid from the beginning. It's a challenge, but Levy hasn't been afraid of it.

"Since you think you can shoot well, then, naturally, I will accompany you to the end. And, I'm glad that Nick, after you've already achieved something, don't be satisfied with what you have, pursue more things, that's what a decent director should do - Nick, I have to say, you haven't forgotten what you once pursued, you're still the best director! (To be continued......)