Chapter 240: Pie in the Sky

Lin Mingyang and Hefner publicly stated in front of the media that MGM's acquisition of Playboy Group was a natural one, and at the negotiating table, the two sides began a long bargain. Lin Mingyang did not participate in specific acquisition negotiations, because "New Sherlock Holmes" officially started filming, and as the leading actor, he had to stay in the crew honestly.

On this day, he was "flirting" with the heroine Scarlett Johansson in the dressing room when director Guy Ritchie suddenly broke in. When he found that there were only Lin Mingyang and Scarlett in the room, he suddenly realized how reckless it seemed to him to break in like this.

He raised his hands apologetically, "I didn't disturb you, did I?" ”

Without waiting for Lin Mingyang to speak, Scarlett preemptively said: "Of course, we are just chatting normally"

In fact, there is no need to explain this, but when Scarlett said this, she was suspected of "there are no silver three hundred taels here", and it is strange that Guy Ritchie is as smart as he does not have doubts.

"Is there anything going on with Mr. Guy Ritchie?" Since Scarlett had already said something, Lin Mingyang didn't explain anything more than sighing helplessly in his heart, but Guy Ritchie broke in in a hurry, there should be something important to discuss with him.

Although Guy Ritchie had already guessed something in his heart, he looked like he didn't know anything on the surface, and said straight to Lin Mingyang: "Mr. Ex is here, saying that he wants to see you... He also brought a guest."

"Okay" Lin Mingyang nodded, although he didn't know what would happen to Ex when he brought someone to find him at this time, but everyone had already arrived at the crew, and he couldn't hide from it. When leaving, Lin Mingyang glanced at Scarlett with a slight apology, and there was an indescribable meaning in his eyes.

Scarlett, of course, knew what the hint was in his eyes, and she just blinked knowingly in Guy Ritchie's presence. Naturally, this little action of the two of them could not hide from Guy Ritchie's eyes, but Guy Ritchie just stood there like no one, oblivious to everything that was happening in front of him.

On the way to the reception room, in order to avoid embarrassment, Lin Mingyang did not take the initiative to ask Guy Ritchie who was coming with Ex. When he reached the door, Guy Ritchie unscrewed the door and made a gesture of invitation inside, but he had no intention of entering.

Guy Ritchie's performance made Lin Mingyang suddenly interested in the mysterious visitor, and when he walked into the room, he was still thinking about what kind of person could let Ackes accompany him personally, and make Guy Ritchie so restrained?

With all kinds of speculations, Lin Mingyang pushed the door in, he raised his eyes to look into the room, and then couldn't help but be stunned. At this time, there was only one thought in his heart, why did this person come?

After a brief pause, both men in the room stood up in unison. By the time Lin Mingyang came back to his senses, the man had already walked quickly in front of Lin Mingyang.

It's an honor to meet you here, sir."

Seeing the other party's outstretched hand, although Lin Mingyang reacted half a beat slower, he still handed his hand out in time, and finally didn't make a joke when shaking hands.

"Mr. Cameron, I really didn't expect it..."Lin Mingyang was too excited, but Acks on the side was very puzzled. Because Lin Mingyang's performance at this time is completely no different from that of a newcomer who has just entered the industry, he can't see what Chairman MGM should look like in him.

"I didn't expect to be uninvited?" Cameron didn't mind Lin Mingyang's "immature" expression at this time, but saw the hope of success in his trip from the fanatical look in the eyes of this young man who was in the limelight in Hollywood.

Cameron's intention was clear, he was afraid that Lin Mingyang would be excited for a while, so he agreed to the other party regardless of it, and at this time he hurriedly coughed twice, "Let's sit down and talk."

Unfortunately, as soon as he sat down, Ex found that he could no longer interject. Because as soon as Lin Mingyang sat down, he began to ask Cameron about the filming of his film, and he admired technical films in his words.

Cameron found out that Lin Mingyang actually had a common hobby with himself in this regard, and he also began to get excited, and then began to talk about the creative experience of this movie:

"My inspiration is very singular and comes from the science fiction novels I read as a child. And some of them aren't science fiction. Edgar Rice Burroughs, Red Haggard and many other masculine jungle adventure writers. At one point, I wanted to do an old-fashioned jungle adventure where I just set the story on another planet and play it according to its rules. So the story of this film takes place on a fictional alien planet. ”

In the '70s, more and more fragments of Cameron's imagination were assembled in his mind to form his first script, which created a magnificent world full of spaceships, alien creatures and new planets, and even conceived the basic form of the alien race according to the theory of evolution, in his own words: "a world where living beings can emit light on their own".

From the conception to the filming, "Avatar" went through a very long wait year like Cameron's fame, and during 1977, Cameron, who dropped out of college, worked as a truck driver and worked part-time as a daytime food delivery, still wrote science fiction novels and made various movie models in his spare time. That year, the release of "Star Wars" once again ignited a creative leak in his heart, and he had always dreamed of making a sci-fi masterpiece like "Star Wars".

Ignoring his wife's complaints and anger, Cameron smashed the pot and sold iron in exchange for some rudimentary film shooting equipment, and started a short film production with a few friends. After that, Cameron began to embark on his own film journey step by step, during which he finally established his status as a Hollywood first-line director through "Alien 2", two episodes of "Terminator", "The Abyss", "True Lies" and other films.

After his success, he began to itch again, and the ideas that had been accumulated in his head for nearly two decades began to stir again. An 82-page script was quickly written, and this was the prototype of the story of "Avatar". The story tells the story of an Earth soldier with paralysis who travels to a mysterious planet and encounters the primitive races on the planet, which leads to the appearance of genetically modified people, and the great war between humans and alien races. At first, in the script, the Na'vi were not set up to be blue, but green.

"You'll see the same theme in 'Game in God's Territory' and 'Emerald Forest'. The stories of these films are not very related, but the stories are all about the clash of cultures or civilizations. For me, that's another reference point. There's beauty in the film. I included all the themes in the film. And then you see this through the lens of science fiction. The film will look very different when it comes out. But in the story of the cosmic background, these will still make the audience identify with it. The audience will also be very comfortable watching it. ”

I had a closed-door meeting with D and key personnel. During the dinner, I explained to the crowd the wonders of the otherworld: it didn't need too many real people, a completely created new world, countless green aliens with 10-foot-tall expressions, subtle movements, and everything had to look like the real thing. ”

But Cameron was soon told by professionals that it was impossible to complete with CG technology at the time, and that it would take too much energy and money, and it was impossible to achieve the effect required by Cameron with traditional makeup. In addition, the hardware conditions of 3D technology and IMAX screen at that time could not perfectly present the visual imagination in Cameron's heart, and the investment cost was initially calculated at 400 million, which scared away all film companies, and even the old club Fox hesitated.

"Because of the overrun in the filming of "Titanic", I had some conflicts with Fox."

After receiving a share of $75 million, Cameron, who was physically and mentally exhausted, no longer wanted to start shooting a new film right away. In fact, there is no more suitable choice in his heart except for "Avatar". The huge success of "Titanic" has made Cameron a god-level existence, and countless fans around the world are looking forward to his next film, but he seems to have suddenly evaporated from the world, and there are fewer and fewer related reports and news.

Of course, Cameron himself admits that he has not been idle during this time. On the one hand, we continue to research and improve 3D technology through the shooting of documentaries, and on the other hand, we are looking for relevant technical teams and production companies to pave the way for the shooting of new films. Several documentaries on deep-sea exploration became Cameron's technical testing ground, for which he invented the underwater IMAX camera, the dual-lens virtual camera, to achieve his vision of the next generation of cameras: lighter, easy to operate, in line with the habits of film shooting, with unparalleled high resolution, and can directly shoot 3D effect pictures.

Cameron shrugged: "After "Alien 2", I haven't touched the space-themed sci-fi film again, and I feel that the dreams and dark directions in my heart are all going together. ”

With the explosive development of 3D film technology and CG special effects production, the level is becoming more and more perfect. Foreseeing a new era of cinematic audiovisual, Cameron approached Fox again to convince him to invest some money in filming a highlight sequence. More than a month later, the film made by Industrial Light & Magic finally touched the hearts of Fox executives, and with a wave of his hand, Cameron was granted nearly $300 million for him to dream. Murdoch, the boss of Fox, gave Cameron full trust and support, and in his eyes, he may create a new movie miracle with this Hollywood "money burning king". In June of the same year, Cameron announced that he would make a film codenamed Project 880, and at the same time planned to bring the Japanese science fiction manga "Gunmon" to the screen. However, at the end of the same year, the rhetoric was changed again, during which the smoke bombs were kept being released, and there were many variables.

It wasn't until 0 Cameron officially announced the filming plan of "Avatar" and will be released in the summer of 08, but then people unanimously admitted: this movie made Cameron completely the "king of ticket jumping". Due to the high standards and strict requirements for special effects technology, as well as the rising production costs, the film could not be completed on schedule, and the release date was delayed again and again.

Whether it is geek otaku, fanatical special effects enthusiasts, or ordinary movie fans, waiting for "the flowers are also thanks", the long-awaited motivation has made these hardcore people collect a few words about this movie every day, and some people even continue to claim and question whether they will be able to see this epic masterpiece that has become a legend in their lifetime.

Only Lin Mingyang, who has the memory of later generations, knows that it may take more than a year for the film "Avatar" to be really released, and this should be the critical moment of the film's post-production, so Cameron suddenly came to him, which couldn't help but make Lin Mingyang have new doubts in his heart.

Cameron glanced at Lin Mingyang with some embarrassment: "It's still because of the film's shooting budget, all the money Fox gave me has been used up, but the production progress of the film is only more than half completed... But I can assure you that Avatar was definitely the most complex filmmaking ever, with 1,600 shots in a two-and-a-half-hour film, and unlike King Kong and The Lord of the Rings, we had to do not just one, but hundreds, all of them with photorealistic realism. ”

Fox officially declared that "Avatar" is the most expensive film in film history so far, with an initial budget of $260 million and a possible final cost of more than $300 million, while the New York Times estimates suggest that the total cost of the film may exceed $500 million.

Such a large sum of money, Cameron said that it would be used up when it was used up. The film was made like this, and it was impossible for Fox to continue to invest money in it, so Cameron agreed to find other investors to co-fund the completion of the film. Doing so would be extremely risky for both Fox and the new investors, and if the film fails, such a huge investment could potentially bring down a company.

If this matter was up to Ex, he would have to think about it carefully, but if it was Lin Mingyang, he agreed almost without hesitation, "How big is the funding gap?" ”

"$300 million" Cameron shouted such a figure in surprise, but it startled Exx, who was sitting next to him. His heart had not yet regained its calmness, and Lin Mingyang's reaction directly made him have the urge to spurt blood.

300 million US dollars, Lin Mingyang agreed without even blinking an eye

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