It's another week's weekend, because Yifei left, Liu Shishi had to wait for "Hurricane Rescue" to finish before coming to Los Angeles, Lin Yuquan simply stayed at home and wrote the "Wild Story" series of novels with peace of mind. From time to time, Haggis urged him to prepare for the release of his "Wild Tales" and Stephanie in August. Mel's Twilight: Lunar Eclipse was released together, using the strong influence of both to make a name for itself at Little Bear Press.

"Lala, lalala, can't see through, it's your lost soul, can't guess, it's the color of your pupils, a gust of wind, a dream, love is as unpredictable as life......."

Lin Yuquan, who was sitting at the desk, took his eyes off the computer screen, picked up the mobile phone on the table, and since the theme song of "Painted Skin" came out, the ringtone of his mobile phone has also been changed to this song.

The caller ID is a stranger's number, and the other party dials his own phone number in the United States, Lin Yuquan answered the phone with some doubts: "Oh, hello, who is it?" ”

"Hello, is it Director Lin? I'm Zack Snyder, and I'm sorry to interrupt your weekend break. An emotional middle-aged man's voice came from the phone.

"Hello, Mr. Schneider, is there anything you are looking for me?" Lin Yuquan said with some doubts, although his phone call was not strictly confidential, there were not many people who knew it, only those he knew, such as the main person in charge of several companies in the United States, the current people in charge of the crew of "Hurricane Rescue", and the Hollywood directors, stars, and producers he knew in some activities, and this Zack Snyder, with his current horror memory, is very sure that he has not dealt with each other.

The middle-aged man opposite, that is, Zack Snyder, hesitated, and then said: "That's right, Director Lin, I submitted a script to your Summit Entertainment, hoping to get the opportunity to work with you, before President Anderson thought that my script had no shooting value, but he didn't say what you meant, so I want to know what you think?" ”

Zack Snyder's words were filled with intense anticipation.

After Zack Snyder said this, Lin Yuquan roughly understood why the other party called, as for how the other party knew his mobile phone number, maybe the other party had a celebrity friend he knew, and he happened to have exchanged mobile phone numbers, it didn't matter, the problem was that he didn't know about the other party's delivery of the script at all, Chris. Anderson didn't mention it to him.

"Hello, Mr. Schneider, it's inconvenient for me to answer the phone now, you see otherwise, I'll call you in twenty minutes, no problem!"

"Of course it's no problem, I took the liberty to call you and disturb you, you are busy first, I will wait for your call." Zack Snyder said hurriedly.

"Okay." Lin Yuquan hung up the phone, of course he was not really busy, but he was going to call Chris. Anderson asked about the situation, and he was now confused as to how to answer the other party.

Chris. Anderson's phone was quickly connected, and Lin Yuquan didn't talk nonsense, and said straightforwardly: "Hey, Chris, do you remember the person Zack Snyder, who submitted a script to our company." ”

"That's right, boss, there's such a thing, is there something going on?" Chris. Anderson said suspiciously.

"He called me just now." Lin Yuquan said.

"What, he called the boss, didn't he give up, didn't he tell him that his script is not suitable for filming?" Chris. Anderson said angrily.

"Okay, you tell me the ins and outs, and I'll make an appointment with him to call him back in twenty minutes." Lin Yuquan said directly.

"Okay, boss, here's the thing, it was about a month or so ago...... "Chris. Anderson told the story, and Lin Yuquan also understood what happened.

First of all, Zack Snyder is a director, a director, who made his debut film four years ago, and is currently the only film, but he is not a new young director, he was born in 1966 and is 41 years old this year.

As early as the early 90s of the last century, he began to work in photography and directing, because of bad luck, the first were shooting commercials and MTV, until 2003, he completed the shooting of his debut film with a remake of the classic horror movie "Dawn of the Living Dead" from the 70s of the last century.

Under his direction, the horror classic, which grossed $40 million at a cost of $1.5 million that year, was revived, and the North American box office alone reached $59 million after its release, which is the highest number for a pure zombie movie to date, and the global box office exceeded 100 million.

Through this film, Zack Snyder undoubtedly became famous in one fell swoop, after this film, he also began to prepare his new film, if he wants to shoot zombie movies or horror movies again, it is naturally not difficult to get film investment, although he only has one work, but only for the success of "Dawn of the Living Dead", there will be countless film companies willing to extend an olive branch to him, the problem is that he actually wants to shoot an epic war film.

In the second half of 05, Zack Snyder finally decided on his new movie, adapted from cartoonist Frank Miller's work "Spartan 300 Warriors", when he took his own film plan to find Mark Abraham, the producer of "Dawn of the Living Dead", it suddenly made Mark Abraham a little dumbfounded, from zombie movies to epic war films, the span between the two is not ordinarily large, which has to make Mark Abraham doubt whether he has the ability to shoot well.

Of course, the span of the movie is only one of them, and it is not the most critical, what really makes it difficult for him to choose to believe in Zack Snyder is actually the huge investment required for epic war films and the film shape at that time, when it comes to epic war movies, the first thing that comes to mind is the magnificent war scenes, to shoot such a majestic war scene, it can't be done without hundreds of millions of investments, such a huge investment, who can rest assured that it will be handed over to a director who has only made a horror zombie movie.

In addition, at that time, it was also when "Heavenly Dynasty" suffered a fiasco, before the release of "Heavenly Dynasty", everyone had high hopes for this film, in fact, it is impossible not to have high hopes for it, director Ridley Scott is a director who has directed a series of classic films such as "Crazy Flower of the End", "Alien", "Blade Runner", "Black Hawk Down", "Gladiator", and won two Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture and two Oscars for Best Picture. Starring the elven prince Orlando Bloom and the French actress Eva. Green, with an investment of up to $130 million, the opening scale of 3216 theaters in the United States, and the simultaneous release of more than 100 countries around the world, almost all filmmakers think that it can gorgeously open the prelude to the summer of 05, but the reality is cruel, in the end, the North American box office of this epic blockbuster was only 47 million US dollars, if it were not for the overseas box office rescue, 20th Century Fox would have lost enough.

Even the great director Ridley Scott has failed, in such a situation, who would spend a huge amount of money to hand over to a fledgling horror director to shoot, thinking that he has a lot of money? So Mark Abraham didn't think much about it and refused on the spot.

And then Lin Yuquan's "Red Cliff" made Zack Snyder's situation even worse, yes, "Red Cliff" with the same type of theme was a great success again, proving the amazing box office potential contained in the epic war theme, but at the same time, it also raised fans' expectations for this kind of movie, because "Red Cliff" is too shocking and exciting, if the level of the movie is far from "Red Cliff", the fans' evaluation can naturally be imagined.

So since then, Zack Snyder has been looking for film investment, but it has never been successful, and the digital background technology he proposed to reduce costs has also been criticized by investors, even if it costs at least six or seven million dollars, this is not a small amount, and if you can't shoot as good as Kung Fu Lin, it's also in vain.

The previous Summit Entertainment was not a big film company, and naturally did not enter the list of Zack Snyder looking for investors, of course, after his matter spread, he also had no hope for small and medium-sized film companies, but apparently because of Lin Yuquan's acquisition of Summit Entertainment, things changed, and at the beginning of last month, he suddenly called, hoping to cooperate with Summit Entertainment.

Chris. Anderson is not the kind of person who makes decisions based on rumors alone, but after communicating with Zack Snyder, he always felt that Zack Snyder's shooting method was unreliable, not shooting like this, mainly the film effect, the shooting method that Zack Snyder said was actually the digital background technology used by Robert Rodriguez to shoot "Sin City", such shooting does not require live shooting, all shooting is in the studio and the actors stand in front of the green screen background to shoot, It is then completed in the post-production process using a computerized zuò.

If you look at the box office alone, "Sin City" is a success, and it can even be said that it caused a sensation, achieving a box office of $158 million at a production cost of $41 million. The success of Sin City is mainly due to the right timing, and it is difficult to say that other films will adopt this method, which is evident from the fact that Sin City has not been preparing a sequel since it became a big hit.

"I'm sorry, boss, I didn't expect me to reject him, and he didn't even give up calling you." Chris. Anderson said apologetically.

"Chris, you don't have to apologize for that, it's not your fault." Lin Yuquan shook his head with a smile, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes, "Spartan 300 warriors"? The story of the Spartan has long been spread around the world, and he is certainly no stranger to it: "How much investment does Zack Snyder say he needs?" ”

"About $50 million, slightly higher than the previous Sin City, boss, are you interested in investing?" Chris. Anderson said in amazement.

"It's not clear yet, I'll talk to him first, and then I'll tell you the result, that's it, Chris, you get busy first!" After hanging up the phone, Lin Yuquan dialed Zack Snyder's phone without any delay, obviously Zack Schneider had been waiting for his call, and quickly connected the phone: "Hello, Director Schneider, I'm sorry to keep you waiting." ”

"Hehe, Director Lin, you're polite, the twenty-minute time hasn't come yet?" Zack Snyder chuckled.

Lin Yuquan smiled, knowing the time so well, it is not difficult to know that Zack Snyder is anxiously waiting: "Director Schneider, I know that you want to make a movie about the 300 warriors of Sparta, can you tell me more about your thoughts and ideas for the film?" ”

"No problem." Zack Snyder smiled heartily.

Through Zack Snyder's explanation, Lin Yuquan immediately had an in-depth understanding of "Spartan 300 Warriors", although it was adapted from Frank Miller's comics, while filming the original feeling, Zack Snyder also incorporated many of his own ideas into it, such as the visual effects of oil painting colors in his mouth are very interesting, and the director who became famous by making zombie horror movies turned out to be a fanatical action movie lover, but his idea full of blood and violence is worthy of being born in zombie movies.

Of course, the shortcomings are also obvious, too faithful to the original work, making the visual effects of the film inevitably good, but lacking a deeper thinking about the battle of Hot Springs, but as a popcorn movie, there is no need to be too harsh on artistry or anything, but because Zack Snyder lacks an understanding of the war in the era of cold weapons, his ideas can certainly make the war scenes hot, but the immersive sense of real substitution is not enough, I have to say, this is a big flaw.

"Ok, how much investment do you need?" After chatting for a while, Lin Yuquan asked.

"About 50 or 60 million, because of the use of digital background technology, it can reduce a large part of the cost." Zack Snyder said with a smile.

"It's true that the investment is not high, but what about the visuals, is it another Sin City?" Lin Yuquan shook his head.

"Of course not, Sin City wasn't meant to be purely visual, and I'm confident that it can do better than it in terms of feel." Zack Snyder said confidently.

"Really? But I don't think it's enough, if you shoot it according to your ideas, this film will become a film that people will forget after watching it, because it certainly makes you cool from beginning to end, but it is not shocking to the point of evocativeness, and your war scene design is full of exaggerated shapes and unbelievable action scenes in the style of American comics, I don't know if you have seen my "Red Cliff", your design can't bring people a sense of oppression that goes straight to the heart, and some are only .......refreshing," Lin Yuquan said in a deep voice.

Zack Snyder, who was on the other side of the phone, was suddenly silent, carefully savoring every word and word Lin Yuquan said.

…………

"Is "The Hostess" finally scheduled to be released?" In the president's office of Summit Entertainment, Lin Yuquan, who was sitting on the sofa, listened to Chris with a smile on his face. Anderson's work report suddenly interjected and said that although "The Hostess" is an out-and-out small-budget independent film, because it is the first time he went to the Sundance Film Festival to buy back the film, it naturally seems to be meaningful, and he also wants to know whether the first such transaction he made was unique or blind.

"Yes, boss, although the summer file is the world of blockbusters, because the blockbusters will avoid the box office losses caused by collisions with each other, there are not many real blockbusters released at the same time, and the box office of the summer file is the highest time of the year, and the release of small and medium-cost films at this time is also a good schedule." Chris. Anderson Road.

"Ok, I believe in your vision, you are responsible for arranging, when is the schedule?" Lin Yuquan nodded.

"On May 18th, the Friday of the third week of this month, it will be released at the same time as "Shrek 3", which will first be arranged to be released on a small scale in 300 theaters, adjusted according to the box office situation and audience reaction, and in the next 10 days or so, we will carry out short-term but fierce public opinion propaganda." Chris. Anderson Road.

"Very good, you can use the topic of Andreina Charlie when promoting, but it's too much, it's not good if you are disrespectful to the deceased, this degree must be taken care of, and then you just reported on your work!" Lin Yuquan said with a smile.

"Understand, boss, we will definitely pay attention to this aspect, the preparation of "Fatal Bend 2" is almost over, director Jo Lynch is ready to start shooting in the middle of this month....... and finally it is to solicit new scripts, we have collected a lot of scripts during this time, we have screened three of the better ones, and you need to make the final decision, boss." Chris. Anderson said methodically, and at the end of the conversation, he handed the three scripts in front of him to Lin Yuquan.

Lin Yuquan glanced at the names of the three scripts in turn, "Black S Valentine's Day", "Boxer", "School Flower I Love You", and then flipped through them one by one, "Black S Valentine's Day" looks like a romantic comedy movie, but it is actually an out-and-out horror film, telling a bloody thriller story that happened on Valentine's Day, but it is not very innovative to associate the warm and sweet Valentine's Day with the terrifying murderer, but there is a very incongruous feeling, and the story is also a little old-fashioned, A few young people in a small town fight to save their lives against a terrifying serial murderer, which is really a pointless horror movie.

Lin Yuquan directly put the script aside, "Boxer" is to tell the story of a young man with amazing boxing talent who is forced to make a living, enters the underground boxing arena to fight boxing matches, and gradually becomes a star player in the underground boxing arena.

Due to the popularity of boxing, there are many boxing-themed movies in Hollywood, among which there are many high-quality movies. Scorsese's early masterpiece "Raging Bull", Robert Brown. De Niro won the Oscar for this film, and "Rocky" starring Stallone won three awards at the 49th Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing. Finch's "Fight Club", Denzel. "Hurricane" starring Washington, "Ali the King of Fighters" starring Will Smith.

It's not surprising to make a boxing-themed movie, but it's not easy to make it well, of course, according to this script, you don't have to think about winning an award or something, it's mainly for the box office, but is a boxing-themed movie that sells so well? The choice of director and actor is very crucial, if he has time, he can try it, but for the time being, he has no interest in the film.

"School Girl I Love You" is a campus romantic comedy, a story about the high school prom, the representative of the stupid outstanding students, on the day of the prom to the school girl who has always been secretly in love made a declaration of love, and then the school girl had a good impression of the protagonist, and accepted the invitation to go to the protagonist's home for a party, unfortunately, her boyfriend also went, so the two people who regarded each other as rivals in love began a ridiculous contest.

Lin Yuquan shook his head, a very ridiculous story, and there was nothing interesting at all, he couldn't see the highlights of the film at all.

"Boss, which script do you think is more appropriate?" Seeing that Lin Yuquan finished reading it, Chris. Anderson asked busily.

"To be honest, I don't have any one that I'm satisfied with, it's all in the genre of small fights, and it's hard to sell well." Lin Yuquan shook his head.

"Hey, there's no way, our top entertainment is not like a movie giant like Warner Bros. and them, and the screenwriters will hardly vote for us for really good scripts, because the other party doesn't believe that we have the strength to shoot." Chris. Anderson said helplessly.

"So we still have a long way to go, but I'm sure that when the films we're making now are released, the shape will be completely different." Lin Yuquan said with a smile.

"That's right, now our Summit Entertainment just lacks a really heavyweight work, as long as we have a work that has a North American box office of more than 100 million, it is enough for our Summit Entertainment to become completely famous." Chris. Anderson gritted his teeth and cheered.

"This day will not be too far away, if these three movies are to be invested in filming, "Black S Valentine's Day" is barely a good choice, but in terms of box office potential, "Boxer" is the best, but this movie has very high requirements for directors and actors, and it is not so easy to find." Lin Yuquan said slowly.

"Understood, I'll take a closer look at it with you." Chris. Anderson nodded.

There was a knock on the door.

"Boss, President, Director Zack Snyder has arrived." A slender blonde woman pushed the door open.

"Come in, please." Lin Yuquan smiled gently, and then turned to Chris. Anderson said: "'Spartan 300' is the focus of our next preparation. ”

Although Zack Snyder's idea still has many shortcomings, the subject matter is generally good, and he is extremely good at war scenes and fight scenes, and the box office prospects of "Spartan 300 Warriors" are naturally not doubtful, so after a serious discussion with Zack Snyder, he simply agreed to the investment, in order to make the film better, he added 40 million US dollars to Zack Snyder's budget, so that he could shoot live, And asked the other party to come to Summit Entertainment the next morning to negotiate specific details.

Chris. Anderson nodded heavily, with a strong look of anticipation in his eyes, with the boss, the master director of epic war movies, the budget of 100 million US dollars "Spartan 300 Warriors" will definitely shock everyone. R1152