When he first got the script of "District 9", Gusta, the president of Lionsgate, thought that Eckes had made a mistake in the email, and after sending a letter to inquire, he was sure that what he was holding was indeed a script newly created by Lin Mingyang.

The beginning of the story of the script is very confusing, and Lin Mingyang adopts a kind of imitation documentary writing technique, but this technique does not take imitation of documentary as the only type throughout like "Death Video" and "The Clover Files", but only integrates it into several types of the whole story as a technique and technique.

With his surname, Gusta finally saw some doorways. He found the content of this script to be somewhat similar to "Children of Men". In the film "Children of Men", the British concentrated all the immigrants in a quarantine area, regardless of whether they were born, old, sick or dead, "The Ninth District" also has a bit of this meaning, but it is mixed with science fiction and replaces the immigrants with aliens.

In the self-centered imagination of human beings, alien beings are often fictionalized as a group of highly intelligent, hideous, ugly and ambitious villains who want to occupy the earth and even exterminate humanity. This kind of imagination is not unreasonable, after all, human beings' own fantasies about heroic myths often begin with the exorcism of these "bad comers", and it is the natural instinct of human beings to exclude dissent.

However, Lin Mingyang put forward a hypothesis of identity swap in the script in "The Ninth District". Wikus is a political axe officer in charge of the management of extraterrestrial affairs. Not only is he full of contempt and contempt for aliens, but he also sees them as synonymous with violence, chaos, dirtiness, and barbarism. The reversal of the play's surname occurs during an official mission - Wikus is infected by a black alien liquid and turns into a half-human, half-alien monster. The real highlight and excitement of the whole film unfolds here.

Continuing on, Gusta feels that the story is mixed with the colors of Kafka's "Metamorphosis", except that the protagonist becomes an alien instead of a beetle, but the pain, despair, fear, and unspeakable frustration conveyed by both characters are the same.

In the past, Wikus took it for granted and righteous for humans to expel and isolate aliens. Because aliens not only compete with humans for survival resources, but also frequently create conflicts and incidents. Until he was infected with alien genes and gradually became a member of the alien family. As the first perspective of the script, Gusta realizes how cruel and cruel people treat dissidents, and how inhuman and unimaginable they are.

When he arrives in the Ninth District, his identity as an alien prompts him to see the fact that he had previously ignored the fact that aliens live in poor conditions, scavenger for a living, and are tortured by the army are commonplace. Not only that, but black terrorists living in the slums have to be eyeing it.

Seeing that Gusta suddenly had a fear that if the plot continued like this, the whole script would become a work that was completely anti-human and anti-human. But in the final plot, there is a romantic, magnificent, deep and moving emotion between the lines.

Wikus made his choice after a difficult inner struggle, when he piloted the robot to frenzie off the frenzied fire, covering the alien he had once disdained to reunite with his son, and stood up again and again, strong and persistent. Gusta seems to have seen the reverberation of Wallace's shouting "freedom" in "Braveheart". Alienated only by the appearance of Wikus, the inside is still the human heart, and at the last moment he bursts out with the noblest and purest emotions of mankind, but his personal sorrow is an ode to the whole human name.

Lin Mingyang didn't say anything about Wikus's life or death at the end of the story, because that no longer mattered. The script ends with a scene where an alien sits on the ruins and holds a metal rose.

Lin Mingyang didn't use too many words to describe that scene, but Gusta could clearly understand what kind of desolation it was, and when he closed the script, Gusta felt that the corners of his eyes were slightly moist, knowing that this story was fictional, but he was still deeply touched.

――――"How did you come up with this idea?" Such a story will definitely cause a sensation when it is filmed! In the subsequent meeting with Lin Mingyang, Gusta made no secret of his appreciation for the plot, and there was even a strong admiration in his tone.

"Since I was a child, I have watched a lot of movies and stories about aliens, such as "The Third Kind of Contact", "Aliens" and "Alien", human imagination of extraterrestrial life is always very rich, but I think that in many alien-related themes, aliens always represent a kind of power or cultural conflict that earthlings cannot reach, they always can't integrate and go their own way, so since then I have been thinking, if one day, many aliens from other planets also immigrate to Earth, Their technology is similar to that of humans. Knowledge and language have not changed much, but they are far from human beings in appearance, what kind of changes will happen to the society in which human beings live, and what will human beings do? This idea has been in my head for a long time, and then this incident touched me deeply, so I wanted to make a hypothesis with this film! ”

Lin Mingyang took out the newspaper that had been placed in front of Ex last time, pointed to the report, and said: "Actually, everyone can try to re-examine their usual positions and concepts like Wikus. When you're righteously outraged by the high crime rate of blacks, have you ever thought about their unemployment and poverty rates three times higher than whites; When you call on the political axe to demolish the dirty and messy slums, have you ever thought about providing new living space and a way out for the poor? Why has it been that for thousands of years, human beings have always used isolation and expulsion to treat vulnerable dissidents, but rarely accepted and disagreed? ”

This straight to the soul question left Gusta speechless, and finally he smiled awkwardly, and then changed the subject, "I'm interested in this script, if you need investment, we can..."

"In fact, I don't lack money in my hands now..."Lin Mingyang shook his head directly, "What I need is a distribution channel for the film." ”

"Then we still have the old rules, three or seven points?" Gusta is also a cheerful person, he can see that Lin Mingyang's attitude on this issue is very resolute, and he can only give up on the issue of investment.

Once the relationship between the two parties was confirmed, Gusta quickly moved into the role of distributor, "How long do you expect the film to take from the start of filming to the completion of production?" ”

"Four months!"

"It's so short!" Gusta wondered if his ears had misheard, because the time spent on post-production for the same type of sci-fi film alone would take half a year at the earliest, "Are you sure you can finish it?" ”

"If nothing else, this time can definitely be completed." Lin Mingyang found that his "ticket guarantee" could not make Gusta absolutely reassured, so he had to explain: "You have also read the script, this movie is essentially a pseudo-science fiction movie, and aliens are not the prominent theme of the film. I don't have too high a requirement for their styling, as long as the audience looks like they know it's aliens! ”

"Even though aliens aren't the subject of your film, isn't it a bit ...... for you to make it? Rough? Gusta is very worried that Lin Mingyang's "lowering of requirements" will affect the quality of the film.

"I don't think beautiful special effects are the only means of expression in science fiction films!" Lin Mingyang expressed a different view on this: "I don't say this to bring down all science fiction films with superb stunts, but to see the return of a science fiction film creation concept - let special effects return to movies, let science fiction return to humanity, fresh thoughts should not be enslaved by cold stunts, and beautiful emotions do not need to be expressed by gorgeous productions." ”

The expression on Gusta's face was noncommittal, but instead of insisting, he asked one last question: "Where are you going to shoot this film?" ”

In the script, Lin Mingyang did not clearly indicate which city the aliens were isolated in, but according to the fragments in the story and the information revealed in the words, in fact, Gusta already had the answer in his heart, and he just wanted to confirm his judgment.

"Johannesburg, South Africa!"

-- Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa, a city that developed wildly from the gold rush of the 19th century. In the past, South Africa was a country with serious racial discrimination, with whites accounting for less than 10% of the total population controlling the power of the entire country, and a small number of white rulers brutally segregated and killed countless people.

Lin Mingyang chose Johannesburg, South Africa, for the filming of "District 9", in addition to alluding to that period of history, the main reason is that Soweto in Johannesburg is the largest slum in South Africa, and most of the residents here live in simple houses made of iron sheets, and they don't even need to build a set, which is the ready-made location for the film.

Lin Mingyang is no stranger to Johannesburg, and he lived here for a while during the filming of the film "Lord of War". Shortly after his departure, South Africa won the right to host the 2010 World Cup, and Johannesburg was one of the cities that hosted the tournament, but two years later, the city has not changed much, and the law and order is as bad as ever.

Because the crew has to go deep into the slums to shoot on the spot, ensuring the safety of the personnel during the filming process has become a top priority for the crew. Lin Mingyang found Xie Qiang, a Chinese who was in charge of the security work of the crew of "King of War" last time, and he came forward and united with two other local security companies to jointly escort the filming of the film.

(To be continued)