After sitting down, Scorsese did not talk about "Shutter Island", but first praised "Springtime for the Cowboys" and praised that the Berlin Film Festival awarded "The Best Film of the Jury" to "Springtime for the Cowboys" It is well deserved.
Zhou Yan has only watched Scorsese's movies before and doesn't know much about Scorsese's character, so he can't tell whether Scorsese is being sincere or just being polite.
But no matter what, since Scorsese praised him, he will also engage in a wave of commercial mutual praise.
He then praised several of the films Scorsese had already made, especially the two films "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas".
“I don’t remember where I read an article. There is a paragraph in it that says that when a killer takes revenge on the structure that oppresses him, the explosive violence will have a negative impact on him. a positive effect.”
"I think the film Taxi Driver takes advantage of this element and puts it at the forefront of the audience's attention. Violence is the only way for the protagonist to express himself, and he cannot transcend the obstacles that prevent him from seeing and sensing. Obstacles, when he exploded, this explosion was the only way he could express his existence to the city..."
Scorsese thought Zhou Yan was just saying polite words at first, but when he waited After listening to Zhou Yan's evaluation of "Taxi Driver", he actually felt a sense of sympathy for each other.
When a director directs a movie, he or she wants to express a variety of emotions, some of which they express purposefully, and some of which happen without purpose.
There are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, this applies to the evaluation of any work of art.
After the creator presents his work, it is no longer something unique to the creator, but is exposed to the public’s perspective and is analyzed and understood by the audience in various ways. thing.
What it specifically expresses is no longer up to the creator himself.
For example, "Borrowing Cucumber" composed by Zhou Yan, the public generally feels that it is a song praising pure love. This cannot actually be regarded as a misunderstanding by the audience, because it is no longer important what Zhou Yan wants to express when creating it. , what matters is what the audience understands from it.
Some creators, when they see others analyzing their works, say that they don’t think so.
But from the perspective of the audience, that is "I don't want you to think, I want what I feel."
Idealists say that the audience is the largest.
What Zhou Yan just said actually belongs to the latter. These things are not what Scorsese deliberately wanted to express when he created it.
But Scorsese quite agrees with it, because although this was not something he expressed purposefully, it was still what he was thinking. However, at the moment of creation, he did not know exactly what he was thinking. What.
When the creator looks back at his work, he has changed from the identity of the creator to the audience. The perspective will also change. The change of identity will also cause different feelings.
What Zhou Yan said coincides with Scorsese's feelings watching "Taxi Driver" when he was the audience.
When the movie "Taxi Driver" was made, Scorsese had already made his debut for almost ten years, but this movie can be regarded as his early work, and this movie also won a gold medal. The Palm Award has a very special meaning to him.
When a director looks back on his early works, he will definitely find many shortcomings, mostly technical. But you often find that you have lost things, and these lost things can never be recovered.
As people age, they undergo changes that are irreversible. Things that can no longer be reproduced become particularly precious.
Seeing Zhou Yan talk freely, Chris also said beside him, "Mr. Scorsese, Y highly recommended you when he gave us the script of "Shutter Island"."< br>
Chris' words helped Zhou Yan prove that he really admired Scorsese, and he successfully changed the topic to "Shutter Island". After all, that was why they met here today.
Scorsese pushed up his glasses and said to Zhou Yan with a smile, "Thank you for your recommendation. The script "Shutter Island" is so well written. It is no exaggeration to say that it is one of my most recent scripts. The best script I have ever read. When I was reading the script, I kept waiting for the ending because I had a hunch that the ending would definitely surprise me. It turned out that my hunch was right and the ending really gave me a lot of joy. Big surprise. The structure of this script is very perfect, and the details are handled very well. The story takes the reader into a mess of threads, making the audience want to untie the threads, but in the end they find that the threads are not messy at all, as long as they are light. Just pull it and it unfolds.”
"Thank you for your compliment. The script is just the beginning. The final presentation of the movie still needs your hard work."
"This is our job." Scorsese smiled and then asked, " I heard Chris say that you recommended three actors to play the leading roles, namely Kevin Costner, Bruce Willis and Tom Hanks?"
Zhou Yan nodded, "Yeah. , I did recommend these three actors, but this is just a recommendation. It is up to you to decide who will be used in the end. I will have no objection."
This statement has made it very clear that he will not interfere. Scorsese's work.
Scorsese was not worried at all about Zhou Yan interfering in his work. Instead, he asked him very seriously, "Who do you think is more suitable among these three actors?"
Zhou Yan looked at Scorsese and saw that he didn't mean anything else, so he said, "If I were to rank, Bruce Willis would be first, Kevin Costner second, and Tom Hanks third." Three.”
Hearing Zhou Yan’s ranking, Scorsese laughed, “We both have similar views.”
Scorsese’s ranking is different from Zhou Yan’s. , but the first place is still Bruce Willis, but the order of second and third is different, but it doesn't matter if the second or third is the same, because as long as they think the most suitable actor is the same, that's fine.
And Scorsese also made up his mind to invite Bruce Willis to participate in this movie.
“What about the doctor in charge and the protagonist’s attending doctor?” Scorsese asked again.
Zhou Yan shook his head, "I don't have any ideas about these two characters. In fact, I don't know much about the actors here in the United States."
This is half true and half false. He definitely has no idea about the American actors. He understands China well, but as long as he has an impression of some famous actors, otherwise he wouldn't have recommended three candidates at once.
Scorsese has some regrets. Although he may not necessarily follow Zhou Yan’s ideas, he still wants to hear the ideas of Zhou Yan, the screenwriter. As the first creator, their ideas are very important. .
In fact, Scorsese also discovered that Zhou Yan was a bit conservative when talking about casting, and seemed reluctant to express his true opinions. This may be a statement, or it may be Zhou Yan’s character. in this way.
Scorsese has not worked with many Asians, and even fewer purely Chinese people, and there is no Chinese who has reached Zhou Yan's level, so he has no experience to refer to when communicating with Zhou Yan. of.
Scorsese didn't talk much about the casting, and then asked some questions about the script.
"The structure of "Shutter Island" is very perfect, but I still have some doubts in some places..."
Scorsese's doubts mainly stem from the process of translating Chinese to English. There are some errors, such as the mystery of the protagonist's name. The Chinese version seems to be very direct, while the English version is a literal translation, and the names are replaced with pinyin. Although there is a note next to it explaining the mystery of the name, it still looks a bit wrong. mean.
There are also some places where Zhou Yan made some changes based on China's national conditions, but they were not changed during the translation, so Scorsese seemed confused. Regarding Scorsese's questions, Zhou Yan patiently answered them one by one, which was also within the scope of his after-sales service.
As for the name, they can make it up on the spot in English, and Zhou Yan can also directly change some of the changed details.
The morning passed by just chatting casually like this.
Chris and Zhang Youan were still with them at first, but when they saw Zhou Yan and Scorsese being very absorbed in the discussion, they stopped accompanying them and went elsewhere.
It wasn’t until lunch time that Chris and the others came to ask them to eat.
At this time, the two of them were still chatting, with no intention of stopping.
Scorsese originally wanted to continue. He was not in a hurry to eat, but after looking at Zhou Yan, he nodded and said, "Okay, let's go eat first and fill our stomachs, and then continue the discussion."
Seeing Scorsese's expression, Zhou Yan smiled. All the directors he had come into contact with could be called workaholics.
Not to mention Zhang Yimou, he is a workaholic among workaholics. Several other directors, including Chen Kaige and Wang Junzheng, are too busy working to think of eating.
......
After lunch, Scorsese kindly gave Zhou Yan fifteen minutes to rest. When the time was up, he took Zhou Yan to the meeting. In the room, we continued to talk about the script, with a certain attitude that we would not stop until we discussed the issue clearly today.
Scorsese's questions were very detailed, and some of them even Zhou Yan couldn't respond to immediately. He needed to think for a moment before he could give an answer. You know, Zhou Yan had read the original film and had thought a lot about it in order to write this script. for a long time.
Sometimes, Scorsese’s questions can open up some new ideas for Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan originally thought that before returning to China, he could spare some time to help Maria arrange the music for "Someone Like You", but looking at the current situation, it may be difficult. Scorsese’s problems alone may not be able to be solved.
Scorsese also knew that Zhou Yan was about to leave the United States, so he made time very tight. After the afternoon, the two had dinner together, and then continued the discussion in the evening.
It wasn't until after ten o'clock that Scorsese let Zhou Yan leave, and made an agreement with Zhou Yan to continue meeting at Warner Bros. at 8:30 tomorrow morning.
There was no other way, so Zhou Yan had no choice but to rush to Warner Bros. early the next morning.
The next day, the two of them started discussing from 8:30 in the morning to 11 o'clock in the evening, a total of fourteen and a half hours. The total of eating, going to the toilet, etc. was less than an hour, leaving more than ten hours. For three hours, the two of them kept discussing.
Zhou Yan has seen too many workaholics, and this is not the first time he has been forced to work overtime like this, so he doesn't feel too tired.
At the end of the day, Scorsese said that there were still some minor problems, but the impact was not big. Moreover, the film had just entered the pre-production stage, and they would still have the opportunity to discuss it later, even if they could not meet in person. Problems can be solved over the phone.
……
Before Zhou Yan returned to China, he received a call from Maria. On the phone, Maria said resentfully that she was still waiting for Zhou Yang to compose the music for "Someone Like You" for her.
Zhou Yan could only apologize for this, and told Maria that he would complete the arrangement as soon as possible after returning to China.
When she was about to hang up the phone, Maria suddenly said, "If you see someone say something, don't take it to heart."
Zhou Yan was confused by this sentence baffling.
“What do you mean, who are you talking about?”
"I'm not talking about anyone, I just want to remind you that you have a safe trip and I look forward to meeting you next time."
"Uh...goodbye."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yan was still confused. I know what Maria wants to say.
Is it the scandal about them two days ago?
But hasn’t the popularity of this matter gone down quickly? And they had a brief chat and there was no problem.
...
It wasn’t until the third day after Zhou Yan returned to China that he finally understood what Maria meant by what he said that day.
It was a phone call from Zhang Youan that solved his doubts.
Zhang Youan told Zhou Yan that the scandal between him and Maria had just gone down, but suddenly it got back up and advanced to version 2.0.
The person who caused all this was Tommy Mottola, who was divorcing Maria.
Tommy Mottola publicly stated that Maria was the unfaithful one in their marriage, but he did not name him by name, so the media brought up the scandal between Zhou Yan and Maria a few days ago again.
The key is that when the scandal was going on, Maria even went to Zhou Yan’s autograph signing to support him, which made people think a lot.
Here Tommy Mottola accused Maria of being unfaithful in their marriage, while Maria denied his statement and accused him of spying on her and even listening to her phone calls.
The divorce farce between the two of them was very disgraceful, and Zhou Yan was the most innocent person in the whole thing. He and Maria really had nothing to do with each other.
Fortunately, Zhou Yan has returned to China now, so this matter will not have much impact on his life.
After he returned to China, school would be on vacation in half a month. It was a busy time and he had to quickly make up for the work he had missed.
So during this period of time, he has been wandering around the school and has no mind to care about other things. (End of this chapter)