Chapter 281 Choices in the Script
"Mingna, just follow me during this period. My schedule is quite tight, so I can only find time to rehearse with you."
"Okay, Ernie Sauce!”
Nakamori Akina calls her teacher Yamaguchi Momoe, but she doesn’t want to call her teacher Yang Ye. Yang Sang is too foreign.
She felt that Yang Ye was very kind, and Zhou Huimin and others called Yang Ye Brother Ye, so she followed suit.
However, Brother Ye is the name he uses when speaking Chinese. She usually uses Japanese when chatting with Yang Ye, so she affectionately calls Yang Ye... Oni-chan!
After deciding to bring Akina Nakamori to the Red and White Song Festival, Yang Ye began to promote Akina Nakamori.
He first appeared at the premiere of Chen Long's new film "Cannonball Speed" with Ming Nai.
"Cannonball Run" is a Western film invested and produced by Golden Harvest. It sold 3.8 billion yen at the Japanese box office.
However, Chen Long only made a cameo appearance and had very few scenes.
But Chen Long has a huge reputation in Asia, so the promotion of the movie in Asia focuses on Jackie Chan.
Zou Wenhuai hoped that Jackie Chan could come to Japan in person to promote his new film, and Chen Long agreed to his request.
"Aaron, your movie is very successful at the box office!"
"I'm just a guest star, it has nothing to do with me."
"How's the script going? ?”
"According to the ideas provided by You, I took Ah Sheng and worked with Hollywood screenwriters for a long time to polish it. Now I am quite satisfied with it in all aspects. I feel a bit... like a platter of Chinese and Western cultures, but mainly American culture."
"If you want to sell well in North America, this kind of compromise is inevitable. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Alien", which are better sellers in North America, are the core of American culture. "The Swordsman" and other , we Chinese prefer it, but it won’t sell well in North America.”
“Would you like to read the script for me again?”
“Okay, I happen to be going to North America to promote my new film. "
"I would like to ask Qingxia to be the heroine and play the role of the Chinese princess in the film. Is that possible?"
Yang Ye shook his head and said: "We are all looking for Qingxia now, but she won't come out to film for the time being. Can Ahong do it? She can fight better than Qingxia."
"Can Ahong speak English? "
"No, just write out the lines and memorize them. After all, she is a Chinese princess, so her poor English is normal!"
In fact, there is someone who is very suitable, that is Chen Chong. She comes from an intellectual family, speaks excellent English, and is based in the United States.
But Yang Ye doesn’t want to praise her. Since she yearns for the United States, let her fend for herself in the United States!
Chen Long said helplessly: "That's the only way it can be."
"This time you will be the director yourself and bring your team with you. Don't change the script at will, but the action scenes must be according to your own ideas. Come on, don't let those ghost guys interfere."
Chen Long nodded: "I must have learned my lesson from the last time I filmed "The Killer"."
...
Yang Ye appeared at the premiere of Chen Long's movie. When interviewed by reporters, he personally refuted the rumors that he and Hiroko Yakushimaru were not lovers.
Hiroko was in his movie, so it was very normal to be in Venice with him.
And he was invited to write the theme song for "Sailor Suit and Machine Gun" because of the favor of Haruki Kadokawa, the president of Kadokawa Pictures.
But... when Yang Ye was being interviewed, there was a very kawaii-looking girl with him.
The media will indeed focus on the key points. No one took Yang Ye's refutation of rumors seriously at all. Instead, the girl around him made the entertainment news.
Everyone is speculating that this is Yang Ye’s new love?
Ba Ge Ya Lu, this scumbag!
......
Yang Ye left a big question mark for the Japanese, so he took Akina Nakamori and flew to the United States with Chen Long.
After arriving in Los Angeles, Yang Ye received a warm welcome from United Artists.
“Nick, congratulations on making another masterpiece!”
Yang Ye said nonchalantly: "Whether it's a masterpiece or not, we'll have to wait until it's released. Although I cut off a lot of heads in the movie this time, the action design is mainly realistic and doesn't show any kung fu. I don't know if American audiences will like it."
Xie Yi said: "War movies are still a very popular subject in the United States, but it's hard to say whether war movies in East Asia can be a hit. Fortunately, you have a strong box office appeal in North America, and you can be the first to do so. Attracting a large audience to the cinema at once is the best advertisement.”
Yang Ye said: “Invite more film critics and build more momentum in the media, that’s all.”
Although Yang Ye's movies are still popular in North America, they have always only been at the level of 30 to 40 million US dollars.
There are only three movies that have exceeded 50 million, among which he did not play the leading role in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Alien".
This is not a problem with his appeal as a starring role, but with limitations in subject matter and race.
Because "Terminator" tells the story of the Virgin Mary giving birth to the savior, it conforms to the American core, and its box office in North America exceeded 50 million.
And it also sold very well in Europe, bringing the total global box office to 110 million US dollars, 30 million more than the box office of the original "Terminator", sweeping away the decline of "The Swordsman".
Of course, the decline of "Swordsman" is for Yang Ye himself, and for others, it is still out of reach.
Yang Ye is very satisfied with the box office performance of "Terminator". Now that the shot has been fired, he is waiting for the second part to be a big hit.
Yang Ye took Chen Long's script and read it over, and found that this version of "Shanghai Noon" and the original version only differed in the laughs, and the overall plot direction was basically the same.
And the laughs are also the result of the collision of Eastern and Western cultures, and are in the same vein as the original work.
Yang Ye filled in a few highlights based on his own information, and the script was finalized.
Later, Yang Ye met the future superstar Tom Cruise. This guy is still a young guy who just made a movie, and he is so handsome that he is criticized.
The criticism that he is so handsome is just what Yang Ye thinks. In fact, Tom Cruise has been in Los Angeles for a long time. He is very poor and his daily lunch is a sandwich. In order to get the opportunity to perform, he auditioned everywhere every day and never missed any opportunity. However, countless auditions ended in failure because he was "not handsome enough"!
It wasn't until this year that he landed a supporting role in a movie starring Brooke Shields.
Now that he has the opportunity to partner with Chen Long and star in a United Artists action film, for him, it is simply a piece of cake.
However, United Artists is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and directly signed five drama contracts with Tom.
No one from Lianmei, including Chen Long, could figure out why Yang Ye chose Atang.
Yang Ye's explanation to Chen Long was: The reason is very simple. Tom is about the same height as you. If you find a taller guy, how can you show up?
Chen Long suddenly realized that he had thought too carefully.
Yang Ye feels that it would be better to pair Tom Lai with Chen Long than Owen Wilson in the original version.
By the way, Owen became famous because he made movies with Chen Long.
"Hello, Mr. Yang, thank you very much for choosing me to star in this movie. I really like watching your movies, your kung fu is very cool!"
Atang's attitude towards Yang Ye is very polite!
"You're welcome Tom, I'm very optimistic about you, do your best and don't let me down!"
Yang Ye only chatted with Atang for a few words and then told him to go away.
Atang left Yang Ye's office, and his agent Paula Wagner came up and asked: "Tom, how was your chat with Nick?"
Atang shrugged: "He encouraged me to do a good job."
"That's it?"
"That's it!"
"I think you should talk to him more. Since he chose you, he must have taken a fancy to some of your advantages. . He is a big shot in the film industry, and there is no harm in having a good relationship with him."
A Tang said helplessly, "I want to, but he is very busy."
Paula shook her head. Said: "Let's do this for the time being, and we will look for opportunities later."
Atang is not good at words, but Paula is a smart and talkative girl. She decided to find a chance to meet Yang Ye by herself.
In fact, Paula had only been an agent for a short time. She had a keen eye and fell in love with Atang at first sight, and then brought Atang to the CAA agency where she worked.
CAA is not optimistic about Tom, but Paula is a newcomer and can only sign newcomers, so let’s sign it!
From then on, the two supported each other, and Paula helped Tom rise to become the number one star in Hollywood.
……
After reading the script of "Shanghai Noon", Yang Ye began to review the script of "First Blood".
This is a project proposed by Yang Ye. He made it clear from the beginning that the final draft must be handed over to him for review.
Yang Ye spent half a day reading the entire script, called the writing team over, and said: "The ending must be changed. Rambo must live, he cannot die."
Stallone himself He also participated in the screenplay. He said strangely: "But at the end of the novel, Rambo dies. And, according to the plot, he must die. This is only reasonable."
Yang Ye said: "If this The movie is doing well at the box office, so we can start filming the sequel. But the protagonist dies, what should we do? Mr. Stallone, you don’t want to make any money later, right?”
The characteristic of action movies is... if one movie becomes popular, it can continue to be popular, at least five movies will be popular, and it will never stop until the box office value is drained.
This screenwriter wrote Rambo to death. Isn’t this horse-riding thing about money? Yang Ye was the first to refuse.
When Stallone heard this, he thought, Damn, that makes sense, so I can’t die.
Who can have trouble with money?
The other screenwriters were very unconvinced. Yang Ye ignored them and continued to point out various delays in his script.
"Although your script is very reasonable and the details are well grasped, I still have to say that we must pay attention to the length of the movie. Moreover, this is an action movie, and the fighting scenes in the movie take up a lot of space. Your script is too dense with information. According to this shooting method, if it is to be made into a TV series, we must know the choices. "
In fact, these screenwriters are not wrong. Generally speaking, a movie will do it. Only by shooting a lot of material and then making choices when editing can a complete movie be cut.
It doesn’t matter if you have too much material, but it will be troublesome if you have less.
If there is too little material, the editor can only add a little to each shot, walk a little farther, drive a little more, add a little flashback... this way the time will go by.
Although it can be grinded out, it is extremely slow and will affect the look and feel.
Many people think that since I have traveled through time and have watched many movies in my previous life, I can be a director and copy those movies to make a lot of money.
It’s not that easy!
You have only seen the finished film, you have not seen the master tape, you have no idea what the material will look like!
Do you want to take photos of the finished film? For example, Tsui Hark's movies are famous for their fast editing pace, known as "heavy rain editing". If you copy them, you won't be able to copy them at all.
Because the shots shown in the finished film are only very brief and sparse fragments, if you want to copy them, you are simply trying to figure out what the complete shot looks like.
Even though Yang Ye had "divine power", he didn't dare to mess around when he was first filming the movie.
Why did he choose "Shaolin Temple"?
In addition to the global sales of "Shaolin Temple" in its original time and space, it is also because "Shaolin Temple" is all about long shots and the machine is stationary, so it is easier to reproduce.
After he finished filming a movie and accumulated a certain amount of experience, the pace of subsequent movies picked up.
Yang Ye deleted large sections of the plot from the script of "Rambo", and the final script was almost half as thick as the original.
After the screenwriters read it, they found that it was indeed very smooth and compact.
But they still asked: "What if the final material is not enough?"
Yang Ye said confidently: "If I direct it, it will not be enough!"
This The words made Stallone's eyes light up. Is Yang Ye willing to be a director?
(End of this chapter)