"But is there really a need to postpone the project you're talking about? According to your description, this should be an independent work with a very low investment cost, right? Hugo vaguely remembered whether the investment of "American Beauty" was 10 million or 20 million, and the final box office performance was not bad, which should be more than 130 million US dollars, which can definitely be called a huge victory for such a work with a black reality theme.

Steven nodded in agreement, "Of course, the current cost budget is fifteen million dollars, a very small investment. But the important thing is that our company doesn't have the resources to start so many projects at the same time, so it's necessary to postpone 'American Beauty' for the time being and free up resources to shoot another film. ”

Hugo opened his mouth, he didn't know whether it was good or bad for "A Beautiful Mind" to be made in advance until now; I don't know if the production of "American Beauty" will still be able to create brilliance if the production is delayed...... This made Hugo a little unsure.

However, before Hugo could speak, Steven raised his hand to stop him, "This is the result of my discussion with David and Jeffrey, and we all think that from the company's standpoint, we need to make some decisions and make some changes." Steven paused slightly, "It'd better be good enough, though." ”

This last sentence refers to Hugo's script, because Hugo has not yet completed the adaptation of the script, so the quality of the final product is unpredictable. While everyone has faith in Hugo, no one can succeed forever, and even Steven himself has made bad films, which no one can avoid - it's just that the whole of Hollywood is now full of confidence in Hugo.

Hugo smiled and spread his hands, "The pressure on me from the media is enough, you don't need to join them." ”

"Do you care?" Steven was talking about the nonsense of the media - Hugo had long been used to it, he didn't care, he couldn't refute it. Steven raised an eyebrow, "So, it's better to be worth it." ”

Postpone the filming of "American Beauty" and advance the shooting of "Beautiful Mind". Only God knows, even Hugo himself prayed: he had better devote himself to adapting the script, because if something goes wrong, or if the quality is not satisfactory, the worst result is that Hugo ruins two works at the same time - two classics, and he cannot bear the weight on his shoulders alone.

So, it's better to be worth it. Hugo himself wished so.

"But are you sure? I feel that John Nash's biography budget is estimated to be over fifty million. Hugo considered that although the adaptation of his script has not yet been fully launched, as a producer, Hugo has already begun to conceive of the film, and now has a rough framework.

Steven looked at it with some surprise, "This is a biography, right?" Not a science fiction movie. "A biographical film, and it is a modern biography, there is no requirement for court or aristocratic costumes, and the filming location can choose where it exists in real life, obviously the cost budget will not be so high.

Hugo pursed his lips and laughed, but explained in a serious manner, "Have you read the biography of John Nash?" Steven shook his head, "John's schizophrenia is getting worse over time, so in order to enhance the realism and emotional rendering of the whole work, I wanted to shoot in chronological order." ”

Steven understood in an instant.

Generally speaking, the main story of a movie will take place in many different places, and in order to save costs, it is often possible to focus on all the scenes that happen in one location. For example, if the story is happening in Steven's house right now, then all the stories that happen here in the whole movie will be filmed in one go, and maybe it will only take a week to complete all the scenes of this scene, so that the time and price of renting a space will drop significantly.

But if you want to shoot according to the timeline, according to Hugo, then there will be a situation like this: one day at Steven's house today, two weeks later, and three days at Steven's house; After the next day's interval, another half day of filming was carried out here. The timeline of the whole work becomes extremely trivial.

As a result, it becomes very difficult to rent a space, requiring constant coordination and no way to reduce the price; Second, if the venue is used too frequently, and it is still a popular filming location, then there is no way to rent it day by day, maybe the crew needs to rent it for a whole month in one go, just to use the venue for seven days within this month; Third, the crew's movement, makeup, costumes, scene layout and other related links need to be put into use repeatedly, and cost control naturally needs to be adjusted accordingly.

However, it is a good thing for the actors to shoot strictly according to the timeline, as Hugo said, this can help the actors to enter the state from shallow to deep, so that the audience's emotions also fluctuate according to the plot, which is good for the overall quality of the work. However, this also means that the cost of filming has increased significantly, or even doubled.

Generally speaking, there are several situations in which the crew is willing to shoot according to the timeline, one is that the story takes place within a fixed space range, such as "Truman's World", and the entire movie was filmed on the small island of Seaside; One is that the film is moved into the studio, and all the scenes will be completed in the studio, such as "Schindler's List", the whole crew was pulled to Poland to shoot on the spot, but the story line and shooting line were all filmed in a fixed place according to the timeline; One is to produce a film independently, lacking the burden of a huge crew, the actors are also tireless, and the filming space does not need to be rented, just random life scenes.

Of course, there are many works like Hugo who want to shoot strictly according to the timeline for the sake of film quality, and the corresponding price is the rising cost, and the decisive factor depends on whether investors are willing to pay for it.

"Is it really necessary?" Steven didn't dwell too much on the details with Hugo, and just asked about it seriously. For a modern biographical film of the fifties, the investment of more than 50 million dollars is indeed a bit incredible - almost comparable to the cost of 200 million yuan of "Titanic", which anyone needs to think twice, let alone the current dream factory with insufficient funds.

Hugo nodded vigorously. The development of the story between John and Alicia is filmed according to the timeline, which will undoubtedly add to the impact and appeal, which is crucial to the quality of the whole film, and the deterioration and transformation of John's condition can even be considered the core idea of the whole film.

Steven has temporarily postponed the filming of "American Beauty", which has an investment budget of only 15 million, and now replaces "Beautiful Mind" at three times - or even four times the cost of "American Beauty", which is a major burden for DreamWorks.

"What kind of terms are Warner and Columbia given there?" Steven pondered for a moment, without any concealment, and asked directly.

Hugo did not hide Steven's intentions, and said succinctly, "Barry said that 80 million is the upper limit, and Mark directly agreed to a budget of 100 million." ”

Steven's eyes widened, and then there was a burst of annoyance, "These neuropaths, a biopic movie throws so much money, so when I made 'Schindler's List', how could I not see them so generous." "It's really more popular than people, a biographical film can get a budget of 100 million US dollars, and when the adapted script has not been released, fantasizing about the scenes of Hollywood bigwigs waving checks and begging Hugo to accept them, which really makes Steven's heart choked.

Hugo looked at Steven's annoyed expression, and inexplicably felt a sense of joy and couldn't help laughing.

Steven looked at Hugo's heartless smile, and was even more annoyed, gritting his teeth and saying resentfully, "If it were me, I would also choose those wronged leaders." After thinking about it carefully, "We can only come up with a budget of 60 million at most, you can go back and take a look." ”

Steven, of course, wanted Hugo to choose DreamWorks, but he himself knew that he was in business. Hugo has a better option, and DreamWorks is really not the first option. Even Steven himself is currently working with Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox on projects, which does not conflict with DreamWorks' own work.

Therefore, even if Steven hopes that Hugo can launch a work on behalf of DreamWorks, really tie Hugo to the DreamWorks chariot, and play the "DreamWorks" brand. However, Steven had no right or right to demand that Hugo must do so.

Hugo was also amused by Steven's words, and he smiled and said, "Of course I'm willing to leave it to our company to do it." This time, Hugo used the word "our company" accurately, and unlike others, Hugo always regarded the word "love" as extremely important, so he was willing to choose the latter between Warner Bros. and Sony Columbia Pictures, and between DreamWorks and others. As Hugo himself said, this is his weakness and his strength.

Steven knew what Hugo's fluttering words meant, not only meant that he gave up his $100 million investment budget, but also meant that he agreed to DreamWorks' next development plan, which can be said to be of great significance to DreamWorks and the entire Hollywood film industry. Whether DreamWorks has the capital to shake Hollywood, perhaps "Beautiful Mind" is a stepping stone.

Although Steven has always known that Hugo values friendship very much, but at this moment he said that he was absolutely lying if he was not moved, which made Steven recall Hugo's remarks about the gradual commercialization of the Oscars just now.

Steven let out a light breath and smiled, "I can already imagine Barry Meyer's angry expression. ”