"Mr. Levy, the hotel you are staying in has been prepared in the style of the American residence you are accustomed to. If you have any special requirements, you can contact the hotel staff or let me know directly. ”

Sitting in the hotel, looking at the interior decoration of his house, Levi nodded slightly, he turned around, looked at the Japanese who had been talking after him, and opened his mouth gently, "Mr. Yamada, you don't have to be so polite, I'm an adult, and I still have a translator with me, what do I really need, I can do it myself." ”

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to look down on you, please forgive me if there is anything wrong with my behavior......"

"Mr. Yamada, don't be so polite. I'm not a difficult person to work with, and when I was in the U.S., I dealt with a lot of people at Columbia, and you're all one company, so they should have told you that, right? ”

A somewhat embarrassed smile appeared on Yamada's face, "Your easy-going shouldn't make us ...... casual reasons"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with that." Levi stretched out his hand and motioned for Yamada to sit down, "Mr. Yamada, please take a seat, I still have something to ask you." ”

Since he came to Japan, Levy naturally wanted to find someone who was familiar with the local area to help him introduce him to Japanese characters in the film industry, game industry, and manga industry. He wasn't familiar with it himself, and he had to do it locally. Levy doesn't have any acquaintances in Japan, but the Columbia company in the United States is owned by Sony, and it is very good to contact people in Japan through Columbia.

After coming to Japan, Columbia's arrangement of everything can be said to be very good - food, accommodation, entertainment, these things. They were all well arranged. However, it was only in the work that they kept procrastinating and did not show enough help, which also made Levy a little dissatisfied.

"If there's anything you want to ask, Mr. Levy, just say yes. Whether it's food or travel, we have made ample arrangements. ”

"You can put those aside for a while...... The main thing I did when I came to Japan was to value the Japanese culture and film industry, and as a director, it would be better to pay attention to my own job. Isn't it? ”

Levy shook his head, he was still down to business.

His words made Yamada's whole body stiffen for a moment, and then he smiled again and said, "Mr. Levy seems to be interested in Japanese culture and movies, do you have any opinions on Japanese movies?" If you want to meet a person in the film industry. I can also go and arrange it. We still have dealings with several Japanese film companies, and we can talk to directors like Takeshi Kitano. Of course, if you admire any actor. We can also invite. ”

Levi just shook his head at such a question: he was here to do business, and he was not in the mood to do nonsense. Moreover, compared to those directors and actors. He was concerned about something else - there was no way Columbia didn't know about it, they were talking nonsense with themselves.

"There is no need to meet people in the Japanese film industry. In recent years, Japan has been much worse than Kurosawa's time. Some people say that this is the drying up of Japanese thinking. I don't think so, it's a good idea that Japan's manga industry and game industry are still thriving. As for the film industry, I think that modern films require more and more technology. Even in Hollywood, when shooting some movies, it will be a little inadequate. Outside of Hollywood, other places are reluctant to vigorously develop film technology, and naturally they cannot make good movies, which is caused by the technological gap -- before the development of science and technology in other countries reaches a certain level, only Hollywood can shoot these things. ”

Yamada was silent, he didn't really want to talk about it, but Levy had been leading the conversation in this direction. He found it difficult to get the conversation off the hook no matter how he spoke, so he had to shut up.

"I came to Japan mainly to buy some good scripts. I hope your company can help me a little bit, contact game companies and cartoonists, and consider acquiring the rights to the adaptation of their work in the United States. I think this is not very difficult for Sony, right? ”

Seeing that he didn't speak, Levy also picked out the topic: the Japanese are extremely respectful on the surface, but if they want them to cooperate, it is not okay not to put it bluntly.

"Mr. Levy, you said that you were interested in some games and manga produced in Japan and thought that they could be adapted into excellent movies, and Sony realized this for a long time. It's just that, all along, Sony's worries are nothing more than two, one is that the technology is immature, these stories can not be fully displayed, but lose their essence, and the second is that many of these stories themselves have a unique Japanese culture in them, and if they are handed over to Americans to shoot, it is difficult for Americans to understand the cultural connotation, and they will turn it into an American movie, not a Japanese story. ”

Now that the purpose has been stated, Yamada has not hidden it. This time, he also made his attitude straightforward: he was not talking on behalf of himself, but on behalf of the Sony company behind it.

In fact, not all the adaptation rights that Levy wants to acquire are owned by Sony, but after all, Sony is a large Japanese company and is very influential in Japan, and Sony also has another American film company under its name, Columbia, one of the Hollywood giants. It can be said that they are giants with great influence on both sides, and anyone who wants to come to Japan to buy scripts has to say hello to Sony, otherwise, as a local snake, it is not difficult to rob Hu halfway.

If Disney's confidence is the animated film market, and the effort they can make to hire six physics and mathematics teams for animation, then a large part of Colombia's confidence also comes from Japan's own land.

Of course, the relationship between Columbia and Levy is not bad, they don't mind Levy buying the rights - anyway, whether Levy's company distributes it, they can negotiate with Levy, Levy shoots, they distribute the film, they can still make money. It's just that Columbia has been losing money like crazy over the years, paying a lot of money to buy Japanese works and send them to the United States to be adapted into movies, not to mention losing money, if it has a negative impact on Japanese culture, it will have a joint loss on their record and game sales.

Their concerns about cultural and technical aspects are not unfounded. They need Levy to give better assurances that the film won't lose money.

It's a bit harsh, but for Levy, the result is not unexpected: it's Sony's turf, and it's strange that they don't want anything more. As long as they are willing to talk, then everything will be fine.

"I understand your thoughts very well," although the meaning of evasion in Sony's words was obvious, but Levi immediately agreed, after all, Colombia is a giant-level company, and Sony is a giant, and if you want to do things in Japan, you can't tear your face with them, "Cultural differences, cultural differences, are the biggest hidden dangers that it is difficult to shoot the original flavor of the movie." Sometimes, a little difference can make people feel that there is a big difference, the subtlety and forbearance of the Eastern people, and the courage and courage of the Westerners are different, and different cultures are indeed likely to have problems, which I understand. ”

Actually, Levy didn't think the Japanese were wrong in doing so: they didn't blindly please American culture, but rather what Levy admired. Compared with his memory, Director Zhang, who came to the mainland to get the recognition of the Americans, did nonsense, in order to make foreigners admire the directors who did not hesitate to shoot the bad side of their own country, he felt that the Japanese were very correct in this kind of thinking.

It's just that he doesn't cooperate because of this worry, but Levy doesn't feel much of the need: compared to those scenes in some Japanese comics, computer technology is really substandard, not to mention now, even in another ten years, it will be difficult to show some scenes - it is inevitable that the level of science and technology that requires scientific research will never catch up with the imagination of the main comics. And when it comes to Japanese culture...... Cultural differences exist at all times, and this is inevitable, even if time passes, can cultural differences be erased?

These things will always be there, and the key is how the film is made to be acceptable.

Levy's words surprised Yamada, he didn't expect that Levy would be so good at talking: he came for these things, how could he give up so easily?

"I also thought that if I were asked to shoot Japanese culture, it might be difficult for me to make a good work, so I thought of another way out: this time I came to Japan, in addition to buying Japanese scripts, I also wanted to invite excellent directors to the United States. My mystery company is not large, but it is still possible to give one or two directors room to develop. If Japanese and American directors have more exchanges, learn more about each other's cultures, and make Hollywood familiar with Japan, it will not be impossible to make Japanese-style films using American technology. ”

Levy's words made Yamada look up in some astonishment. Bringing Japanese directors to Hollywood was a condition that Yamada did not expect.

Foreigners can't photograph Japanese culture now, so how about Japanese people? After the two cultures fully understand the integration, is it feasible to shoot a movie?

What Levy proposed was the most feasible solution, and it was also the one that Colombia had to think about. (To be continued......)