Los Angeles, Paramount Pictures Headquarters.

Linda Obst, the filmmaker of the "Interstellar" project, and Kip Obst, a theoretical physicist, and Kip Bush, a theoretical physicist. S. Thorne came to Paramount early and waited in the conference room with two Paramount executives.

"I really didn't expect Daniel to take over the film in the end."

"yes, I didn't expect Spielberg to break up with Paramount."

"I don't know if Daniel's opinion on this movie will conflict with us."

"No matter what, my principle will not change, the content of the film must not violate the existing laws of physics, and all imagination must be based on science and not just the imagination of the screenwriter and director!"

"Of course, I agree with you."

Linda Obst and Kip M. S. Thorne huddled together, whispering to each other.

The two of them had the idea of the movie "Interstellar" as early as 2000, and later attracted the interest of Steven Spielberg to direct, and the film began to be developed in June 2006.

In March 2007, director Nolan's younger brother, Jonathan Nolan, was hired to write the screenplay for the film.

By now, the script of "Interstellar" has been almost polished, but Spielberg broke up with Paramount last year, and the project was shelved and not continued.

Originally, Linda Obst thought that "Interstellar" might be a failure, and it would not be launched again for at least the next five years.

After all, apart from Spielberg, there is no top science fiction director in Hollywood who can take over the work of this film.

Unexpectedly, things took a turn again.

Wu Yuan suddenly contacted Paramount, hoping to take over the filming of "Interstellar", and was willing to fund it with Light Times.

The project "Interstellar" itself is an original hard science fiction movie with high risk, and it can be said that except for a few directors such as Spielberg and Cameron, other directors come to shoot and have a great risk of losing money.

If Wu Yuan just wanted to take over the project and not share the investment, Paramount might still hesitate.

After all, although Wu Yuan has done a very good job in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, "Pirates of the Caribbean" is a fantasy movie, which is very different from hard science fiction, and has some Disney influence bonuses.

What?

You say "Gravity"?

A Chinese science fiction movie, even if it achieves a box office of nearly 100 million US dollars in China, is not worth mentioning in the eyes of Hollywood predators, and cannot be used as a criterion.

However, Wu Yuan is willing to share the cost, so the situation is different.

Paramount is quite willing to let Wu Yuan give this project a try when the risk is reduced, after all, in the case of Spielberg's "defection" to Disney, Paramount can't find a more suitable director than him.

Instead of letting the "Interstellar" project be shelved indefinitely, it is better to let Wu Yuan give it a try.

That's why we have today's meeting.

The person in charge of Paramount and the core creator of "Interstellar" are waiting for Wu Yuan's arrival to meet him.

Ten minutes later, Wu Yuan, who arrived on time, walked into the conference room under the guidance of a staff member.

All the people sitting in the conference room stood up to greet him.

"Daniel, welcome to Paramount."

Seeing that people arrived so together, Wu Yuan was also a little surprised: "Sorry, am I late?" ”

"Nope." A vice president of Paramount said with a smile: "We arrived early, which is the respect that a top director should have for Hollywood." ”

"You may be seated."

Wu Yuan sat down at this time, looked around at the group of blonde foreigners, and said, "Then, let's talk about the cooperation of Interstellar." ”

In terms of commercial cooperation, John has already talked to Paramount on behalf of the Light Age.

The production cost of "Interstellar" is temporarily 180 million US dollars, of which Paramount will contribute 52 million US dollars, Universal will contribute 46 million US dollars, Light Times will contribute 48 million US dollars, and the remaining two independent film companies will each contribute 17 million.

Paramount and Universal combined, can be regarded as the main controlling investment of this project, and these two companies have the most voice.

There is no way, this kind of film with an investment of more than 100 million US dollars and the goal is to be distributed globally, only in cooperation with the Big Six, and it is not even thought of starting a new business by the light era.

After deciding on their respective investment shares, the cooperation is basically finalized.

And the current meeting is more related to the specific preparation of the project.

"Daniel, at your request, we have contracted a 500-acre (about 30,000-plus-acre) farm in the Okotox area, south of Calgary, Alberta, Canada."

"The team is now building a road to the filming location and is also sowing corn, which is expected to grow well in half a year, just before the start of production."

Linda Obst, the producer in charge of the team's main control, immediately told Wu Yuan about his first arrangement after taking over "Interstellar".

Grow corn in Canada!

According to the script, in the future, the earth's crops will often fail due to climate change and wilt disease, and only corn can be grown.

Cooper, a former space shuttle pilot, is also forced to become a farmer to help solve the food crisis and grow corn on Earth.

And in order to show that the most unsuitable place on earth for corn has been grown, Alberta, which has a cold climate and a minimum temperature of about minus 50 degrees Celsius in winter, is a place that is very suitable for this background.

Regarding Wu Yuan's request for the crew to plant corn in Alberta, Linda Obst is understandable.

It's not 2016, and although it may be more convenient to use computer effects to make cornfields, the CG effects are not realistic enough.

At least in the eyes of an old-school producer like Linda Obst, this kind of plot that can be completed by real shooting must be the most realistic by real shooting, and he supports Wu Yuan's idea very much.

"Ha, maybe when the movie is finished, we will sell the 30,000 acres of corn, not only to recover the cost of renting land, but also to make a small profit." Linda Obst said optimistically.

"What you asked for, the method of artificially creating a "black dust storm", I also found a good option with some technicians. ”

Scientific Advisor Kip M. S. Thorne also spoke up: "There's a chemical material, C-90, which is a non-toxic, biodegradable, shredded cardboard material that's safe enough to be used as a filler for certain processed foods, and can do the kind you want, mimicking the sandy and submerged feel of a sandstorm, and light enough to achieve the hovering effect that Nolan wants." ”

"With some large blowers, we can really artificially create a small black dust storm."

Wu Yuan nodded while listening: "So, we have the most important spaceship left now?" ”

"Yes." Kip S. S. Thorne nodded: "But the team studied the documentary of the International Space Station and visited the space technology company for this purpose, and already have an idea." ”

"There are three types of ships that appear in the film – the Prowler, the Landing, and the Eternity."

"The most appearanceed Eternity Ring Mothership It consists of 12 compartments with a speed of 5 revolutions per minute to generate 1G of gravity through centripetal force."

"Through an airlock system and a curved continuous floor connection, the 12 compartments take on different missions: four engine compartments, four permanent compartments, and four landing modules that will include living quarters, a cockpit, a cryogenic chamber and a medical laboratory, and four landing modules that will be placed on the surface of the new planet."

"We had a lot of meetings and discussions about it, and we thought we could make a model of more than 10 meters long with steel and polystyrene, and we also designed the hydraulic landing gear, airtight cabin, waterproofing, freezer bed and hydraulic seats. With a six-axis gimbal, the operator can precisely control its movement. ”

"I heard about the idea of using LED screens to simulate space during the filming of Gravity, which was a wonderful idea."

"The actors were able to see through the portholes exactly like the real space images, and the intricate projection allowed them to quickly dive into the space situation, and we were going to use this design as well."

"Of course, the most difficult thing about this movie is the wormhole, the world of relativity described in the plot, and the huge real black hole."

"How to accurately depict wormholes and black holes in the movie may still need us to discuss and study together, and I hope that based on Einstein's equations of relativity, the most realistic presentation of the black hole style under the current scientific research."

"It's going to be a big project, and the visual effects production requires a lot of people and consultants with a lot of theoretical physics knowledge to follow through the process."

Kip S. S. Thorne is a physicist himself, his attitude towards science is extremely rigorous, and he has repeatedly confirmed with Wu Yuan before the cooperation that this "Interstellar" must follow the basic laws of physics, and cannot rely on a brain to make some plots that seriously violate the laws of physics like some soft science fiction movies in Hollywood.

That's right, it's those superhero blockbusters.

Of course, Wu Yuan agrees with this, and he also knows that the reason why "Interstellar" was later regarded as a masterpiece is because it is extremely real.

Even the black hole model picture made in the movie, after the first real black hole photo was taken on the earth, it was found that the movie picture was strikingly consistent with reality, and it became a small fire again.

This kind of rigor and scientific forward-looking, Wu Yuan certainly recognizes.

"No problem, we still have half a year to prepare, we can assemble a large team of scientific consultants, and I believe that a suitable special effect presentation method will be discussed, the kind that conforms to the laws of physics." Wu Yuan assured.

Kip S. S. Thorne nodded with satisfaction, it seems that Wu Yuan, the director, like Spielberg, is also a rigorous and realistic director.

On the side, Paramount executives, who had been quietly listening to their discussions, coughed at the right time to interrupt the discussion between the two.

"Gentlemen, should we first finalize the main cast of this film before discussing the specific plot design?"

"Who should we find to play this actor?"

"Leonardo DiCaprio?" (End of chapter)