Early in the morning of Wednesday, November 23, Ye Wei and Ji Ya made an appointment to meet at Barrington Dog Park, mainly because he was walking his dog in the morning, but Ji Ya was waiting in the parking lot earlier.

"There are 150 here. Gia's face had the tiredness of staying up late, but her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Very good......" Ye Wei took the thick stack of grid paper, flipped it, and saw that the pages were full of Please and Don't written in black pens, all of which were not written according to the grid lines. He nodded, Gia did a great job, the idea was actually improvised last night, maybe this thing really worked wonders.

"What is this?" Jiya shook her slightly sore right hand, and now that she is ready, of course she has to ask, otherwise how can she learn.

"Haven't you seen "Lovely Bones"?" Ye Wei was still carefully checking every piece of paper, not that he didn't believe her, but that there must be no problems.

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not very interested in this story. Now that I'm joining, I'm going to buy a copy today. ”

Ye Wei took out a brand-new TLB from the dashboard of the Volkswagen sedan next to him, turned the page of the first chapter at the beginning, and handed the book to her, "Take a look." He continued to check the paper, and Toto, who was chained to the side of the car, was already impatiently waiting, "Wang!"

Gia took the book and read it, and when she read this paragraph, she immediately understood:

“Please，”I-said。 “Don’t，”I-said。 Sometimes-I-combined-them。 “Pleas-don’t”or“Don’t-please。 ”It-was-like-insisting-that-a-key-works-when-it-doesn’t-or-yelling-“I’ve-got-it，I’ve-got-it，I’ve-got-it”as-a-softball-goes-sailing-over-you-into-the-stands。

("Please.") I said, "Don't do that." I say, sometimes I use both: "Please, don't do this" or "Don't do this, please." It's like the key is not working, and you desperately hold it to open the door, or watch the softball fly past you to the stands, and keep yelling, "I got it, I got it, I got it." ”）

This is the passage when Susie is brutally raped by Mr. Harvey, and she pleads after her unsuccessful resistance.

"Are you preparing?" asked Gia. Ye Wei sighed deeply and said, "What is written on these pieces of paper is Susie's pain. It is a key that unlocks the source of suffering. If Alice Siebold really loves Susie, then Peter Jackson is finished. ”

Gia listened excitedly, "Is it today? I'll go with you." ”

Ye Wei looked at her, "Go to school." ”

"Why don't you have to go to school?"

"Because even so, my test scores are better than yours. ”

"Uh......" Gia spread her hands, "I've already taken a leave of absence, and if you don't take me with you, I'll just wander the streets." ”

......

Alice Siebold settled in Los Angeles with her husband fellow writer Glenn David Gold, and Peter Jackson was also in Los Angeles because of the upcoming release of King Kong. Two days later, the Thanksgiving holiday, and everyone wanted to have a number before that, so the interview was held today.

In the morning it was Ye Wei's time, and then in the afternoon was the tripartite talks.

Julia Roberts is nervous about today's events, and although it is just luck, she still has great expectations, after all, VIY always brings surprises.

She is not the only one who is nervous, Peter Jackson and Ye Wei's new projects have attracted much attention, and now they have come together, and it is TLB, a project that affects the nerves of film companies, no matter who wins or loses this time, people are looking forward to the results.

Around the same time, Ye Wei took his assistant Jiya to drive to Gold's house in Pasadena, north of the city, a villa close to the beautiful mountain forest.

"Welcome, welcome. Alice and Gold greeted the visitors in the front garden, and the middle-aged couple, both in their early 40s, were beaming with warm smiles.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Ye Wei was also very enthusiastic, and after getting acquainted again in person, he praised: "Glenn, Alice, I have read all your works, it is awesome." Glenn, your Carter Defeats the Devil also has quite a lot of potential for a film adaptation, but I'm not good at its style, and I think Tim Burton would be a good fit. ”

Gold's smile widened, "Thank you." ”

At that moment, Ye Wei followed the Gold couple to the quaint house, laughing and talking as they walked.

Gia smiled and followed alongside, watching and learning, this is not the director's part, this is the producer's part, about how to get the right to adapt the novel.

Look at this guy! It's so good, he didn't rush to say TLB as soon as he came, but he couldn't stop talking about "Carter Defeats the Demon", as if he was here for it today, but he snubbed the main owner, Siberd. But everyone knows the situation today, look at Siebold's smile, there is no woman who doesn't like others to praise her husband, right?

The most absolute thing is that he is not talking nonsense and polite words, obviously he has really read and appreciated it, and when it comes to the Tao, what magician, what "Big Fish".

Gold's reputation was much lower than that of his wife, and he was flattered by the spirit of his face.

They are famous writers, but this is VIY, a 17-year-old film genius, who doesn't bring some joy and respect to him?

During the conversation, everyone went to an elegant living room in the house, where Ye Wei and Ji Ya both had tea and continued to talk with them about movies or literature. Gia had already been instructed by him not to talk nonsense, and she couldn't interject anything, her background in all aspects was too bad.

Gradually, they began to talk about TLB's adaptation rights, and the atmosphere became serious, but after getting along with each other before, Ye Wei and the Gold couple were already like old friends, and they almost made an appointment on where they would travel together during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Gia finally understands how she got on the thief ship in the first place, this guy is a goddamn courtesan.

"Well, we're so glad you wanted to shoot 'Lovely Bones.' Alice's tone was sincere, and Gold nodded, "We were really shocked. ”

Alice raised her cup and took a sip of tea, and said, "I believe that with your talent, you can make it into a good movie." It's just that this work is too important to me, and I have to make the most appropriate choice for it. There are three prerequisites, and I want to make it clear that Peter's side has already agreed to them. ”

"Speak. Ye Wei had long expected this, and one of the main reasons why TLB had a difficult birth was that the original author sitting on the sofa opposite did not give up his power.

"First of all I would give the adaptation rights to someone who respects the original, and I don't want the Lynne Ramsey thing to happen again. Alice said seriously and modestly, not wanting anyone to misunderstand her as unreasonable and arrogant, "I don't want to follow the original book exactly, I want that the relationship and ending of the characters cannot be changed." ”

Ye Wei nodded without hesitation, "No problem." I don't understand what Ramsey was thinking, and you don't know how much I hate 'Mr. Harvey'. ”

He let the anger in his heart flow out, and his voice was low: "I don't just want him to die, I want to kill him with my own hands, I want him to go to hell and suffer forever." ”

Gia saw that Alice's expression changed, something was different, Master Gia, learn a little, learn a little......

"I'm glad you said that. Alice nodded, Gold put his arm around her shoulders comfortingly, and Alice said, "I want to have the right to decide and recommend the 'Susie' actor." ”

In other words, whoever will play Susie needs her to make sense of guò, and she can also recommend candidates.

"I don't mind. Ye Wei also agreed without hesitation, Peter Jackson agreed, can he say no? And this condition is not too much.

It is most normal for authors to want to recommend actors, but many authors have already thought of the list of actors when they are creating. The young author has no right to speak, and it is happy that the work can be adapted into film and television, but for a bestseller like TLB, which has a huge influence, it is strange that the original author only asks the actors. Compared to JK Rowling, Alice's request is nothing.

However, he had another task, Ye Wei thought about it for a while, and asked, "Do you have any favorite actor candidates now?"

"I haven't had a particular favorite yet. A few years ago, I wanted Emily Browning to play her, who looked a lot like the Susie I thought she was. Alice smiled and said, "I watched "The Unfortunate Adventures of Raymond Snicky last year" and she didn't grow up much like it, I don't know how it is now. ”

"I don't know, I don't know her. Emily Browning is good. Ye Wei added in his heart, but it was not good enough, it had nothing to do with the grievances of "avoiding sight" in the past, Browning had Susie's girl next door, a little rebel, but no aura.

Now it's just the negotiation stage, there is no need to raise the bar if you have any ideas, and getting the adaptation rights is the top priority. Even if Alice recommended Kristen Stewart, he would say yes. In fact, there is no grudge, it really doesn't work, she's a different type entirely.

"I can promise you this, I understand the feelings of every creator for their work, and this is a reasonable request. Of course, the final candidate needs to be a good actor, preferably with a good temper. In any case, I don't think 'Susie' is impossible to find, we can just try to find a good one. ”

Ye Wei's words were very much in Alice's heart, and Gia noticed her small movements, and the corners of her eyes were slightly curved when she was happy.

"The other thing is that I wanted the film to be filmed in Malverntown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where I grew up. Alice said the last prerequisite.

"I guess the subject was shot there, and there was nothing wrong with that, the old Philadelphia feel fits well with the '70s setting of the story. Ye Wei thought about it and nodded, and said, "I miss it too, when I was 7 or 8 years old, I traveled to Philadelphia with my parents. Ten years on, I still remember the unique taste of the Cheesesteak. ”

Look! The corners of her eyes curled again. Gia secretly shouted, "Is it true or false?"

"I vaguely remember...... Is the store we visited inside or outside the store? The walls are covered with pictures of celebrities. I thought, why don't you hang me up?" Ye Wei said with a smile, "When I go back to Philadelphia, I must go to that store again, then my dream has come true, and I don't know if it's still there." ”

Alice and Gold both smiled, and she smiled, "You're talking about Pat's-King-of-Steak, which is the origin of the cheesesteak sandwich, and it's still there." "Every time we go back to Philadelphia, we almost always go there," Gold said. ”

"That's awesome. Ye Wei looked surprised.

Seeing the three of them talking about Cheesesteak, a specialty delicacy in Philadelphia, Gia was really stunned, he was serious, otherwise it would be terrible, too producer!

Whether it's true or not, it's just that the producers can't win the adaptation rights of TLB, and the Golders don't have no choice, but they have to be better on the books.

After talking about the prerequisites, Ye Wei took a sip of tea and officially talked about his understanding, feelings and assumptions about TLB, and for a while there was only his voice in the living room:

"I'm going to make a literary film, unlike LMS, there's no black humor, and although there's a lot of humor in the book, there's no more humor on the screen after Susie was killed.

We know that there is a huge difference between movies and novels in terms of carrying capacity, with movies having limited carrying capacity and novels being infinite. By default, TLB's running time is 120 minutes, which is absolutely impossible to accommodate all the content and details in the book. We need to select materials, and the biggest question is, how to choose materials to achieve emotional unity?

The story of the book breaks time and space, there is a present, there is a past, the time span is very large, there are family, campus, heaven content, different characters have different changes, intertwined and influenced each other. You can read the novel slowly, feel it carefully, a lot of atmosphere and emotions can coexist, but the movie can't, the movie is too short, too fast, only one emotion can be experienced at a time, the comedy must be funny, and the tragedy must be sad. ”

Ye Wei said slowly, confidently and naturally, Ji Ya looked and listened and felt that she really had learned, and the Gold couple listened attentively.

"I'm not saying it has to be adapted, let's try it in three acts.

In the first act, Susie's beautiful life before her death is warm, true and hopeful.

At the first turning point, Susie was killed, and everything was ruined.

In the second act, the changes after Susie's murder go from everyone falling into the dark abyss, and then gradually healing the wounds. The truth of the case is gradually being revealed.

At the second turning point, Mr. Shamon had an accident and Mrs. Shamon went home.

In the third act, the whole family is reborn, and Mr. Harvey is dying, and Susie finally rests in peace.

In 120 minutes, it's impossible to shoot funny stories like Susie, Lynsie or Barkley when they were children, and the love story of Shamon and his wife, all of which belong to the background introduction, are done at the beginning of the first act. These are easy to solve, but not heaven, heaven is the real trouble. ”

Ye Wei paused.

Alice, who was in a trance, woke up and asked, "What's wrong with heaven?"

"According to the paradise, setting and plot in the book, if it is filmed like that, it will seriously destroy the unity of emotions. ”

Ye Wei said very slowly, very strictly: "I know how important heaven is to this story, and it is good in the novel, readers can feel her real emotions through Susie's specific and delicate confession, and they can also have their own imagination."

But what if, I mean, if it were made according to Mr. Jackson's vision, it would be too happy and fancy, and it would be so good at all?

When a fairyland scene appears after a tragic death, if she is still playing there, like Susie and Hallie playing musical instruments and fashion in the second chapter, it will be a disaster for the movie! The movie does not give people room for imagination, the movie realizes people's imagination, and from the text, we can imagine that Susie and Hallie are actually having fun in the middle of suffering, and this kind of scene is in the image...... will wash the whole story to pieces.

Think about it, at the first turning point, with the grief of the world on one side and Susie having fun in heaven on the other? When we are on a sad track, and suddenly we are pulled on another completely opposite track, this emotional disunity, even if it only appears once, will ruin the whole movie, which is incomprehensible and funny, which is not okay. ”

"Oh......" Alice and Gold both frowned, and seemed to be starting to hesitate a little, Peter Jackson must have said something different. Alice asked, "What do you think?"

"What to do with heaven, I haven't quite figured it out yet. Ye Wei pursed his lips and shrugged, "No matter what, my movies must be emotionally unified." ”

Gia nodded approvingly.

One morning, Ye Wei talked a lot with the Golders, and Jiya found out so closely that the gap between him and VIY was already ten Buzz light-years, and he was probably only one when "The Wedding is Coming", the producer and director, this kid is really good! But he hasn't used those papers yet, and he doesn't know what to do.

At lunchtime, everyone stopped the topic of TLB and chatted about some light-hearted daily routines, and in the afternoon, the Peter Jackson team arrived.

VIY ALMOST SCOLDED JACKSON IN THE MORNING...... And Jackson, they were so nervous to deal with.

Today is by no means a tea party.