Chapter 1086 (1/2)
”Hi, Simon. How are you doing?”
”Busy, Brian, and you?”
”Just came back from New York, Bob and I went to see the performance of the Metropolitan Opera House together. It was so beautiful. Martin also said that he planned to add it to his works in the future.”
”Speaking of Martin, he's been trying to shoot” New York gangster ”all these years. I'm just going to talk to him.”
”Oh, that's good news. Martin has been waiting for more than ten years. Simon, if you're not kidding, I'll call him at the end of this meeting? ”
”No joke, of course.”
In another conference room with several sofas and projectors hanging on the wall, which is more like a rest room, Simon exchanged greetings with Brian De Palma, and exchanged greetings with Ella doechman, President of gaomen pictures, and Linda WAGGS, director of casting who has been with him for many years. Everyone sat down on the sofa.
Get to the point.
The project under discussion today is Los Angeles secret, which is the third of the famous American crime novelist James arrow's ”Los Angeles Quartet”, and the first of the four is based on the novel of the same name ”Black Dahlia”, which was adapted from the murder of ”Black Dahlia” in Los Angeles in 1947.
After the first song became famous, arrow wrote three other novels of the same theme in succession.
As for the copyright of the Los Angeles trilogy, the earliest ”Black Dahlia” was purchased by universal in that year. It was refrigerated after producing an unsuccessful miniseries. After the MCA merger, it was taken over by Denise entertainment. The Los Angeles secret was completed in 1990 and bought by Denise entertainment.
Simon was not interested in the other two films, endless waste and white jazz, and let other studios take them away.
It was not until the end of last year that L.A. secret was put on the agenda because it could not be arranged.
If Simon is determined to be stable, he can pull up the original team, but instead of doing so, he intends to let Brian De Palma be the director.
It's actually a bit of a risky decision.
Because the 2007 version of ”Black Dahlia” was directed by Brian De Palma. After the release, there was a lot of abuse and the box office was dismal. With an investment of 50 million US dollars, the global box office is only close to 50 million US dollars.
However, Simon has seen Palma's version of Black Dahlia. From the point of view of a filmmaker or an ordinary audience, this film is absolutely not as bad as the external criticism. For example, the scene of the discovery of the body of Black Dahlia, the camera scheduling is amazing, and the performances of Elisabeth short played by MIA koshner in the film can be regarded as excellent The amazing video record makes many critics think it has reached the level of Oscar nomination.
It can be said that Bryan De Palma's level of directing is not a problem at all.
What's the problem?
Script!
This can be said to be the most direct reason for the failure of Black Dahlia.
as long as you have seen L.A. secret and then Black Dahlia, blind people can feel the producer's ambition to create a second L.A. secret. Whether it's role matching or story structure, the traces of imitating L.A. secret are too heavy.
So it's self defeating.
What the audience wants to see is Elizabeth short, the murder of Black Dahlia. As a result, the Black Dahlia case in the film is almost reduced to the background of the story. Instead, the focus of the narrative is repeatedly placed on the trivial affairs of the two leading men and women, and it is only when they do not fail that they see the ghost.
As for why this is the case, the director of ”Black Dahlia” is David Finch, and the script has been finished. As a result, Finch wants to make a three hour black-and-white film, and the producers are finished as soon as they listen to it. So finch quits and goes to Palma because of the box office failure of ”Mars mission” in 2000, and he has not been able to get out of the trough for several years In hand.
Palma, who has been idle for several years, wants to take the job, but he can only follow the producers' mind.
The results are predictable.
And L.A. secrets.
How about the original Los Angeles secret? Of course, it's excellent. It's just a perfect combination of three men's main structure. The Oscar for best adapted screenplay is well deserved.
It's just that the film as a whole is in line.
It's just like a stable dish. The overall standard is not low, just the lack of something that makes people shine.
Therefore, Simon gave up the original director Curtis Hansen and chose Brian De Palma. In addition to the friendship that Palma helped him accumulate from the era of ”Lola Run”, Simon also hoped that the film could go to a higher level and have more Palma style colors on the basis of the original version.
With all this in mind, Simon sat down and took a folder from girl a, who had arranged for Johnson sisters to arrive soon. As he watched the female assistant distribute documents to other people, he asked Palma, ”so, Brian, how do you feel about the script of Los Angeles secret?”
”It's wonderful. Frankly, Simon, I'm a little worried about whether I can control the project. I have roughly counted that there are more than 80 characters with lines in the whole script. In addition, there are more than 60 outdoor scenes, not counting indoor scenes. This is a great test for shooting and editing. I've tried to be lean, but there's nothing redundant. Simon, it's certainly not a screenwriter named Brian helgrande who can do it. I think you can only do it yourself, right? ”Simon smiles and shakes his head: ”I don't have so much time to finish a script myself now. The main reason is that arrow's novel is excellent enough. However, the outline is really provided by me. Besides, it has been rewritten and revised several times by Hale grand to reach the present level.”
”I've read a novel,” said Brian De Palma, but after a pause, he didn't go on. The talent of the young man beside him had been appreciated ten years ago. There's no need to feel too much about it, so he went on to the main topic: ”Simon, in my opinion, this play is a wonderful ukiyo painting of the 1940s and 1950s in Los Angeles, because there are so many roles in the scene and the choice of the protagonists If their acting skills, temperament and other aspects can not support the story, the final film will be very mediocre. But if you pick the best actor, Simon, you know, it's going to be very expensive. ”
”Now that you've agreed to be a director, that's what we're talking about today,” Simon said, gesturing to Linda Vargas, ”I've asked Linda to start preparing some time in advance.”
Linda Vargas, who had just sat down for a while, saw her boss gesturing to her, got up and went to turn on the projector. Instead of returning, she sat near the operating desk where a laptop was placed.
A picture soon appeared on the projection screen.
Nicole Kidman.
In the photo, Nicole is wearing a silver silk dress with a fur jacket on her shoulders. Her golden wavy hair and fiery red lips give her a dazzling feeling of Hollywood's golden age.
Simon saw the people around him looking at the screen and said, ”according to my personal understanding, the greed, sin, decay, depravity of the city of angels depicted in the book After all, it's all about desire. The desire of men and women is undoubtedly the most easily felt one. As a senior call girl, the heroine Lynn bracken doesn't seem to play much, but she is not only a key to the development of the story, but also a symbol of the desire of all people in the city of angels in the film. It's also the reason to show the alternative role first. Therefore, regardless of the setting in the book, I think she should be about 30 years old, with the temperament of a Hollywood golden age actress, and can trigger a man's desire for conquest and protection at the same time. Nicole is the one who satisfies me most in all aspects. ”
The original Kim Basinger, Simon has no feeling.
What's more, Kim Basinger won the Oscar for best female partner for his role in ”La City Secrets”. It's obvious that most of the public relations elements are public relations. In the same year, Julian Moore's performance in ”uninhibited night” was enough to get rid of Basinger for several streets. Unfortunately, the producer of ”uninhibited night” was a new line of film industry with little public relations ability, and Julian Moore didn't either It's a pity that Basinger failed because of his strong connections and qualifications in Hollywood.
Linda WAGGS keeps changing the style Nicole specially made for the film. Brian De Palma appreciates the film seriously, while Ella doechman whispers to Simon, ”boss, Miss Kidman's pay should be on the high side?”
Now that she plans to put gaomen film in charge, Ella doechman has learned in advance that her boss plans to use 30 million to 40 million to make the film.
It's really nervous.