On a trip to Johannesburg, on the way to the crew's station, he unfortunately encountered a street robbery, and although he was sitting in an off-road vehicle wrapped in bulletproof glass and composite steel plates, he still broke out in a cold sweat when the robbers fired into the sky. On the contrary, the accompanying security personnel sat in the car strangely, watching the expressions of the police and robbers when they fought fiercely over there, as if they were watching a movie.

Two groups of police officers arrived to reinforce them, and the robbers arrogantly sieved one of the police cars and then calmly evacuated. The traffic control on this section of the road immediately came into contact, and when he passed by the starting place, he saw the water glass all over the ground and the scrapped police cars, and Eckes felt his eyelids jump, and the name of Johannesburg's "Sin City" was indeed not blown out.

When he arrived at the hotel where the crew was staying, Ex's legs were still a little weak when he got out of the car. After Lin Mingyang learned what happened to Ex on the road, he regretted that he didn't go to the airport to pick him up in person, so that he missed a wonderful police and bandit duel.

Ever since he got out of the car, he complained about Johannesburg's chaotic policing and then cursed the local heat, tearing off his tie as he walked towards Mr. Lin's room, completely ignoring his previous image.

"It's hard to imagine that the World Cup will be held here in three years..."

"You're just lucky to have it!" Lin Mingyang comforted.

"By chance?" Ex stopped depressedly, "You didn't see the expressions on the faces of those bodyguards at the time, the robbery happened in their eyes and it was the same feeling as watching a movie at home, what does this habit mean?" ”

Lin Mingyang didn't have the time to stop and stared at Ex, he didn't even pay attention to the stunned expression on the other party's face, and walked forward by himself. Ex was stunned and then quickly followed, chattering in Lin Mingyang's ear: "They are used to seeing this kind of thing, so they have long been numb... This just shows the staggering crime rate here. ”

Lin Mingyang stopped suddenly, Ex patronized and spoke, and walked a few steps forward only to find that Lin Mingyang had not followed. He turned his head to look at Lin Mingyang, his eyes full of doubts: "You don't want to stop and go like this, okay?" ”

Shrugging helplessly, Lin Mingyang pointed to the room beside him, "We've arrived!" ”

Ex retreated a little embarrassed, and when Lin Mingyang opened the door, he began to talk about the bodyguards again, "Do you think they are reliable?" ”

"They are all professional!" Lin Mingyang replied tirelessly.

The air conditioner was turned on in the room, and Exx, who was sitting on the sofa, felt a lot more comfortable, and after drinking a glass of ice water, his nerves, which had been tense, finally eased, "Look at the weapons in their hands, there are all kinds of everything, is this what you call professional?" ”

"I mean, a lot of them are robbers, and they're familiar with robbers, so they know how to prevent them!" Lin Mingyang's explanation choked Ex, who was drinking water, and his eyes widened in astonishment.

"You say these bodyguards have been robbers in the past?"

"It's either a robber or a security guard, that's the survival option of local unemployed blacks. A lot of people often go back and forth between these two identities, but the people I found are all reliable, so don't doubt their profession! ”

"What is this?" Ex's attention was drawn to the drawings on the couch, "This thing with a cockroach-like face, a lizard-like head, and a shrimp-like body is the alien you envisioned?" ”

"What do you want to say about that?"

"They're so ugly!"

"In the eyes of humans, are there any aliens who are handsome?" Lin Mingyang asked angrily.

"Of course!" Ex laughed twice, "I think Optimus Prime is good!" ”

Lin Mingyang was speechless for a while, and Ex continued to point to the red area of the alien's abdomen in the picture, "Is there any purpose for the special marking here?" ”

"There's the genital-organ of aliens!"

After listening to Lin Mingyang's explanation, Ex hurriedly withdrew his hand, and the expression on his face was as ugly as eating a fly.

"Don't worry, they're hermaphrodites, so what you just did wasn't a violation of them!" Looking at Ex's lame expression, the corners of Lin Mingyang's mouth hooked up a prank-prone smile.

"I think you're deliberately trying to tarnish the image of aliens...", Ex grumbled, putting down the drawings, and then he found two more photos. One of them, he quickly recognized, was at the height of racial discrimination in the United States, with signs that read, "No people of color!" ”

And in another photo, next to the logo of a child, a woman, and a man, there is also a prawn-shaped pattern with a red cross on it, and the next one reads: "No use by aliens!" ”

There are a number of similar photos underneath these two photos, all kinds of signs, all of which say "No aliens", "These are all you prepared for this film?" ”

"Is this similar to the scenes depicted in those historical sources that you are familiar with?" Lin Mingyang picked up the first photo that Ackes looked through, "This is the slogan of the apartheid period in South Africa, and I know that in the 50s in the United States, this kind of sign was also common in the United States!" ”

"The United States has never practiced racial segregation, and the federal constitution does not allow such a system to exist..."

"So how do you explain the existence of the Indian Reservation in history?"

"That's to protect the survival of the Indians!" Ex argued.

"This tone sounds familiar to me, South Africa also claimed to have established apartheid to protect more black people, and in my script, the official spokesman claimed that District 9 was created to provide them with a better place to live."

Ex thought he couldn't talk about Lin Mingyang, so he could only throw the photo aside, and then changed the topic, and they talked about the casting of the film.

The film "District 9" is the easiest in casting since he became a director, because strictly speaking, except for the actor Wikus, the other roles in the film are just tricks. The filming method of imitation documentary has such an advantage, there is no difficulty in direct interview dialogue performance, and the performer only needs to follow the content on the teleprompter, with a little expression or action, and can successfully complete it.

According to the shooting practice of Hollywood commercial films, such a film should find a heavyweight star to "take the lead", but Lin Mingyang is not ready to do this, not because he is reluctant to spend money, but because the money is worth it.

"For such an important role, you are going to find an unknown actor?" Ex felt that Lin Mingyang's idea was still too "casual".

"The key is that this role does not have too many remarkable places in performance, and it does not need any superb acting skills, and no matter how powerful an actor is, it is impossible to bring qualitative changes to this role." Lin Mingyang said nonchalantly: "As a science fiction film, I gave up gorgeous special effects; And as a commercial film, I also gave up stars with more box office appeal. If the plot can already support the whole movie, then the other embellishments should be superfluous. ”

Ex found himself being brought into Lin Mingyang's mindset from the very beginning, and his ideas were untenable when it came to controversial topics. Realizing this, Ex wisely avoided topics on which he disagreed with Lin Mingyang.

"How did you meet Peter Jackson?"

"Do I know him?" Lin Mingyang was stunned, he didn't understand why Ex suddenly asked this.

Ex also wondered, "Since you don't know each other, why did he call me?" ”

"We just talked a couple of words at the Oscar reception the year before... Is it because of this? Lin Mingyang thought about it, and he seemed to have had that contact with Peter Jackson.

"That's right, he heard that you were shooting a movie about aliens in Johannesburg, and then he introduced a director named Neil Blomkamp and said that he recommended you as a deputy." "This Neil is a native of South Africa, and he seems to have made a short film called "Aliens in Johannesburg", which is very similar to your film. ”

If Lin Mingyang and Peter Jackson's friendship can only be regarded as ordinary, that is, after chatting for two sentences, the other party "stuffed" a person to him so abruptly, Lin Mingyang inevitably had some doubts in his heart, "What about others?" ”

"He's been to Johannesburg, and if you're interested, I'm going to bring him in, for the sake of Peter Jackson's face, and you can talk to him even if you don't need him."

Lin Mingyang grabbed the calendar casually, and the circles on it were all some important arrangements, and he chose a person who had not drawn a mark, "Three days later, let him come to the crew to find me!" ”

-- Lin Mingyang didn't know that the Neil Blomkamp recommended by Peter Jackson was not unknown in Hollywood, and his fame was not in what he had filmed, but in what he had not made. In 2006, he was invited to direct "Halo," a film based on the game of the same name produced by Peter Jackson, but the film was halted and eventually collapsed due to the withdrawal of two studios.

Because of this aborted film, Neil's name appeared in the newspapers many times, and it happened that Adidas was looking for the right director of the commercial for its viral marketing campaign "Adi Color", and they gave Neil a chance, with a small budget, and let him do it. As a result, Neil came up with a mini-thriller short film in which artificial sapient beings make waves around the globe in a futuristic dystopian overtone. Neil also painted a Hebrew-style tattoo on the cyborg's face to create a non-Western atmosphere.

Lin Mingyang was not interested in the commercial, but he was interested in Neil's other short film, "Aliens in Johannesburg", and he was impressed by the film's rough texture and seamless CGI imagery.

After watching this short documentary, which is very similar to "District 9" in terms of form and idea, Lin Mingyang remembered that the "District 9" in his memory was made by this Neil, which made him have a different understanding of the next meeting.

During the filming of the film, the crew temporarily rented an office building. Located on the outskirts of Johannesburg's northern part of the city, far from the slum of Soweto, where the film was filmed, the location was chosen for safety.

South Africa has an unemployment rate of 40 percent, and the vast majority of the unemployed are unskilled and poorly educated blacks. The deterioration of law and order has led to a recurrent looting in Johannesburg and a climate of ethnic conflict that has forced the upper-middle-class or big capital companies representing South Africa to move to the northern suburbs.

During the time when John met, there were some temporary problems at the filming location, and Lin Mingyang had to rush over to deal with it. According to his instructions, the crew invited Neil, who was on time to the appointment, to Lin Mingyang's office and asked him to wait for a while.

When Lin Mingyang returned, Neil was looking at the design pictures of the aliens hanging on the wall.

"Are you interested in these 'prawns'?"

Neil was fascinated by it, Lin Mingyang walked into the office and didn't attract his attention, and a voice suddenly remembered behind him, startling him.

"Prawns?" Neil turned his head and saw that the owner of the office was looking at him with a smile on his face, and quickly reacted: "That's another name for aliens?" ”

"That's what the crew calls the aliens I designed." Lin Mingyang explained.

"I don't like that!" Neil said with a serious expression, "It's like people call black people ',' and I think the name 'prawns' carries a kind of contempt for aliens." ”

This is just a title, Lin Mingyang didn't expect Neil to be so "serious", he smiled and said: "It's just a nickname that people give to aliens, I don't think everyone has malicious intentions." ”

"Maybe you really just want to make a sci-fi movie," Neil shook his head with some regret, "I thought you were different. ”

"You're disappointed?" Lin Mingyang poured him a glass of water with interest, "Then what do you think I should do?" ”

Nick's eyes lit up, and Lin Mingyang's attitude made him regain hope, "Since you chose Johannesburg as the filming location, the content of the film should be related to the city." I don't know exactly what you're trying to shoot, but I don't think it's a big deal to shoot the kind of alien attack on the city, so you should have other plans! ”

Lin Mingyang nodded, acquiesced to Nick's statement, he made a gesture of listening carefully, and motioned for the other party to continue.

"I have a good idea..."

(To be continued)