"In films about aliens, most directors are accustomed to letting their imaginary alien creatures descend on the metropolis and then cause panic and surprise. Just like in "War of the Worlds" or "Reading Force", aliens invade the earth, and humans rise up to surround their homes. Of course, there are also people who regard aliens as friends and perform warm friendship with humans. ”

Lin Mingyang sat on the sofa with his hands crossed, looking at Nick in front of him and talking. "But no one has ever put them in a vulnerable position, for some reason they have fallen to the earth, and then they have been discriminated against or even persecuted by human beings. My short film "Aliens in Johannesburg" is mainly about human society in this state, in fact, my original plan was to make a feature film, but due to the total limitation, it always could not become a reality, so this short film placed a lot of ideas on me. ”

"You're actually trying to use alien encounters as an allusion to apartheid in South Africa?" Lin Mingyang sat there quietly, the blazing gaze in his eyes seemed to want to see Nick through.

The idea that he hadn't said was broken in advance by Lin Mingyang, and Nick nodded calmly, "I went through that period and saw a lot of black people suffering from injustice. But everybody is silent about it now, and I think forgetting history is a betrayal. ”

Lin Mingyang stood up with his hands on his knees and walked up to Nick, the smile on the corner of his mouth blooming without warning. Before Nick could react, he had already stretched out his right hand to Nick.

"Although my original intention for making this film is different from yours, and the positions I stand on are very different, the ideas we want to express through the film are the same. On this beautiful planet, evil happens all the time, never ends and never stops, apartheid, bullying, greedy surnames, heinous killings, filth, camps where crime breeds, and so on. ”

Nick's eyes flashed with excitement, because Lin Mingyang's thoughts actually coincided with him, and after Lin Mingyang briefly introduced the plot of the film, he finally understood that this movie called "District 9" is a science fiction film on the surface, but it is a satirical fable in its bones. In Lin Mingyang's conception, aliens are just a symbol, not a representative of alien beings, but a representative of different human civilizations.

Lin Mingyang's idea goes further than Nick, and his thinking about this film is not about the conquest of aliens, but on how to get along with aliens. The two coincidentally had a wonderful tacit understanding on this issue, and Lin Mingyang immediately decided to hire Nick as a special consultant to the crew and serve as the assistant director of the film.

After learning that the actor for the lead actor in the film has not yet been decided, Nick recommended his good friend Charto-Koplay to Lin Mingyang.

Nick told Lin Mingyang very honestly that his friend had never acted in a movie, but after reading the script written by Lin Mingyang, he instinctively felt that the character of Wikus was very close to his good friend Charto. Under his strong recommendation, Lin Mingyang agreed to let Scharto test shoot a few shots first.

-- In order to shoot the scene of the slum isolation, Lin Mingyang rented more than 600 tents from the local Red Cross Society in Johannesburg, and then set up an alien quarantine area in the open space outside the Severa refugee camp.

The people who live in the Severa area are basically unemployed blacks, and the crew is here to set up the set, and they all hire people nearby. Because Lin Mingyang saw that the lives of these black people were difficult and the salaries offered were not low, in order to be able to get a temporary job, there were several clashes at the scene of the crew's recruitment, and the people from the security company controlled the scene in time, which did not escalate the conflict into a large-scale violent fight.

In addition to giving Lin Mingyang a further understanding of the living conditions of unemployed blacks living in the Severa area, he also had a clearer understanding of the chaotic situation in the local area, and in order to ensure the safety of the crew during filming, he asked the security company to send more manpower.

The most obvious change is that the security forces around Lin Mingyang have been greatly strengthened. In the past, when he went to those tin houses in the slums for field trips, he brought at most two or three bodyguards with him, but now every time he goes out, he is accompanied by a small team of bodyguards with loaded guns, and when filming in those dangerous areas, the crew members are required to wear body armor.

On this day, Lin Mingyang was patrolling the location when an unexpected visitor interrupted his work. When Charlize Theron, wearing skinny jeans and casual jeans, and a gray felt hat, stood in front of him, Lin Mingyang's first reaction was not to admire Theron's chic outfit today, but to think that she was simply messing around.

Lin Mingyang looked at Theron with a serious expression, "Do you know what kind of place this is?" ”

"Yes, this is Severa." Charlize Theron replied with a relaxed face: "This is the largest slum in South Africa, with more than 80% of the population unemployed, and the crime rate is four times higher than elsewhere. ”

"Now that you know this, and you came here by yourself, do you know how dangerous it is to do so?" Lin Mingyang had a straight face, and he blamed Theron a little.

Theron walked over and grabbed Lin Mingyang's arm affectionately, "Okay, I know I'm wrong, I heard that you are filming here, so I rushed over." Originally, I could have waited for you in the rented office building of your crew, but I was curious about what exactly you were going to shoot here, and I couldn't hold back my curiosity for a while, so I ran over to take a look! ”

Theron has always worn sunglasses, and none of the bodyguards around her recognize her as the brightest female star in South Africa. The best thing about filming in Severa is that there is no disturbance from reporters, because the chaotic security in this place makes reporters daunting, so here, Lin Mingyang can be very bold to hug Theron's slender waist, and the bodies of the two are intimately attached together.

"Are you making a film about refugees?" Theron's attention was attracted by the white tents in the distance, but Lin Mingyang's gaze kept glancing at her very low neckline.

"That's for aliens!" Lin Mingyang said absentmindedly, in Theron's opinion, this is a bit of an answer.

"Aliens?" Theron thought Lin Mingyang was joking, and she giggled and said, "Aliens generally like to go to New York or Los Angeles, when did they like Johannesburg?" ”

Most of Hollywood's movies about aliens take place in the United States, and Theron is actually a bit ridiculous when he says this.

After feasting on the "infinite scenery" on Theron's chest, he finally took his gaze back, "In this movie, I did shoot aliens, but from another angle, their spaceships are broken, and a large number of aliens are stranded on Earth, isolated by humans as refugees." ”

"But why Johannesburg and not somewhere else?" Theron didn't speculate deeply about Lin Mingyang's intentions before asking the question, because it was refreshing to say that she was used to seeing aliens as potential enemies or low-level creatures.

"Because it's the best place in the world to shoot!" Lin Mingyang pointed to the patches of tin houses in the distance, "Their lives on the earth are very close to those black people living in the slums. ”

In Lin Mingyang's imagination, this group of aliens is simply something that has an inexplicable relationship with human beings, and they do not have the slightest superior status from aliens in the film, but are just a group of annoying poor bastards, thugs who affect social stability all day long. After Lin Mingyang explained this problem clearly, Theron had already vaguely guessed something.

"But why isolate them?"

"Because isolation is one of the most common means of dealing with crises in modern society. Separating the bad (people) from the good (people) and segregating one group for the benefit of another doesn't sound like a bad thing. However, once this method of dealing with it becomes a habit of thinking, and the power to enforce segregation becomes the power of a certain group. Then the word takes on more meanings: inequality, discrimination, antipathy, panic, and so on. ”

"To humans, aliens are mysterious. This latent fear of the unknown causes many people to suffer from persecution paranoia. Because physiologically speaking, human beings are extremely fragile and powerless, and they can't beat tigers and lions, and a poisonous snake can make us die, not to mention more powerful animals. People rule the earth, but they are very aware of their weakness, and they have to rely on all kinds of additional things to give themselves courage and live on the earth with more peace of mind. When humans had relatively strong control, zoos were created, circuses were born. The more frightened they are, the more they want to make a posture of superiority. Humans do the same in the face of extraterrestrial creatures, convinced that they are threatened. ”

"Like the U.S. insistence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction?" Lin Mingyang's statement made Theron naturally think of the United States.

"Looks like you know what I mean!" Lin Mingyang smiled and nodded, "In fact, these aliens are still strong in terms of ability, their weapons are much more powerful than humans, and their technology is more advanced than humans, but they have fallen into the refugee slums of the earth for their own reasons, and they make a living by robbing, picking up garbage, and selling weapons for cat food." ”

"You want to use aliens to allude to the black people who live here?" Theron finally understood Lin Mingyang's intentions.

"This gesture of aliens in front of earthlings can make people pay attention to some problems in this world again, they are serious, most people know about the existence of the problem, but have been ignoring its occurrence. But we have long been numb in front of news reports, and only by getting some bouncing 'aliens' out of the camera can we arouse the interest of the audience and give people some enlightenment through the alien encounter. ”

"Why do you have such bizarre ideas in your head, and they can surprise them every time?" Theron has never really seen through Lin Mingyang, and it is this kind of fascination that makes Theron indulge in the "intimate" relationship between the two and find it difficult to extricate himself.

(To be continued)