1980 My literary era

"The Last Emperor" has been released in Western countries such as France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States since November last year. The box office is generally not satisfactory. The total box office revenue is only more than 40 million U.S. dollars. Compared with the huge investment of 25 million U.S. dollars. , this movie can be said to be a loss to my grandma’s family.

Fortunately, Columbia, the film's distributor in the United States, is very powerful and has contributed a lot to the Oscars.

In the American film industry, Oscar awards public relations have long been an open secret.

Later, Cheng Kaige went to the United States with "Farewell My Concubine" and won a big victory at the Golden Globe Awards. He thought he was sure of victory and was not willing to spend public relations expenses. As a result, "Farewell My Concubine" conquered film festivals around the world without any suspense. Losing an Oscar was considered a pity by many people in the domestic film industry.

In later generations, the Oscars quickly became astonishingly corrupt after the Weinstein brothers rose to prominence in Hollywood.

"The Last Emperor" swept the Oscars. The biggest good news for producers and distributors is that they don't have to worry about losing money.

Although the box office of the movie in its early release was not ideal, with the blessing of the Oscar, it is enough to recover the investment by directly selling the copyright, and even make a small profit.

If the movie does not lose money and can still make money, the investment, production, and distribution parties will naturally be happy.

In addition to these three parties, this time "The Last Emperor" became a blockbuster, and the one who benefited the most was director Bertolucci, who won the Oscar for Best Director in one fell swoop, making him a world-renowned director.

Then the other front and backstage staff of the film also benefited from this.

The leading actor Zun Lung previously rose to prominence in Hollywood for his role as a gangster in the movie "Year of the Dragon". This time, he stunned the Oscars with "The Last Emperor" and has a bright future as a star.

There is also the heroine Gong Li, who was originally just an ordinary student at the Central Academy of Drama. Because "Red Sorghum" won the Golden Bear Award, it attracted the attention of many foreign media. Also because of the popularity gained by "Red Sorghum", she successfully starred in "The Last Emperor" "The role of Wanrong in ".

The Golden Bear Award for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival and the Best Actress at the Academy Awards. With these two films alone, even if Gong Li does nothing in the next twenty years, it will be an insurmountable achievement for all Chinese actresses. peak.

What's more, Gong Li is now internationally famous thanks to these two award-winning works. She is now only one short of an award that can prove her acting skills before she can become a god.

Others include Ryuichi Sakamoto of the film soundtrack, photographer Bao Haoxin, etc. "The Last Emperor" has made many achievements for so many people, including screenwriter Lin Weimin.

Before "The Last Emperor" won the Academy Award, Lin Weimin had already gained a lot of fame in the American literary and drama circles, but his reputation was not prominent in the vanity fair of Hollywood, a self-contained kingdom.

Script script, the basis of a play. Film has been called the director's art since its birth, but no one can deny the importance of the script.

Because of his official status, Teng Jinxian was completely ignored in the promotion of "The Last Emperor". Even his signature was a pseudonym. Lin Weimin, the only real screenwriter, naturally became the focus of many media attention.

Many media knew little about Lin Weimin before reporting on the show. However, after checking the information, they found that this Chinese screenwriter was actually a "treasure boy."

Tony Award, Berlin Film Festival Best Screenplay, National Book Critics Circle Award, Goncourt Literary Prize...

Not only has he won various drama and literary awards, but his plays have grossed over 100 million on Broadway, and his novels have also sold extremely well, reaching millions of people in the United States alone.

Lin Weimin's rich and exciting resume immediately aroused the interest of many media, who scrambled to search for his various information and tried to contact him for an interview. Only then did the reporters discover that the screenwriter did not even attend the Oscars. He was a maverick. Full of personality.

The inability to interview Lin Weimin did not hinder the reports of these media. On the contrary, it increased Lin Weimin's sense of mystery.

Lin Weimin clearly did nothing, but he took advantage of the limelight of "The Last Emperor" to make a name for himself in front of the American people. This was something no one expected.

American media reports had no impact on Lin Weimin, but while he was busy dealing with directors from domestic studios, an American filmmaker asked for Lin Weimin's contact information through Bertolucci.

The success of "The Last Emperor" and the in-depth exploration of Lin Weimin by the American media have made interested people pay attention to Lin Weimin and his works.

With the success of "The Last Emperor", Lin Weimin's works have become popular.

The person who contacted Lin Weimin through Bertolucci was veteran Hollywood producer Michael Phillips. He and his wife, Julia Phillips, are a well-known Hollywood producer couple.

Michael Phillips's most famous work is the 1974 film "The Liar" directed by George Roy Hill. The film won the Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards that year. Phillips became famous in this battle.

In 1977, Michael Phillips produced "Taxi Driver" directed by Martin Scorsese. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. At this point, Michael Phillips completely established his status in Hollywood.

After decades of the era of big studios, Hollywood began to gradually enter the era of "producer-centered system" in the 1980s. Michael Phillips and his wife have been famous in Hollywood for many years, dealing with the six major Hollywood companies. Columbia Pictures is one of the companies the couple works with year-round.

The Phillips couple moved into Hollywood, relying not only on their outstanding abilities, but also on their keen sense of smell.

"The Last Emperor" made Bertolucci a star in Hollywood, but the Phillipses knew that the long-term partnership between Bertolucci and Thomas could not be easily interfered with by outsiders.

When they saw the newspaper report about Lin Weimin, they immediately became interested. After collecting some information, they immediately fell in love with "The Intouchables", which had been performing on Broadway for four years and had just stopped performing some time ago. and" script.

This script has been polished on the Broadway stage and has been perfected. Coupled with the millions of viewers it has accumulated over the past four years, it has a strong audience base and the adaptation is a box office success.

Coupled with Lin Weimin, the screenwriter who won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, everything was in the right place at the right time, and the couple couldn't wait to contact Lin Weimin.

The two parties communicated on the phone for more than half an hour, with little success. A Hollywood movie often costs millions or even tens of millions of dollars to invest. It is difficult to achieve results that both parties are satisfied with just by talking on the phone.

"If you really want to adapt "The Intouchables", I hope we can have an interview, so that things may be much simpler." Lin Weimin suggested on the phone.

Michael Phillips readily agreed to Lin Weimin's request, hung up the phone and went to apply for a visa immediately.

Half a month later, he flew to Yanjing.

The meeting between the two parties was scheduled by Lin Weimin at the Yanjing Hotel. In recent years, all the foreign guests he has received for cooperation have basically met here. They are familiar with the roads and are convenient.

During today's meeting, Michael Phillips was accompanied by comrades from the WS Department and the Film Bureau.

"The Last Emperor", a movie that China participated in the production, just won an Oscar some time ago. The government department is very proud of it. I heard that Michael Phillips is coming to China to discuss the film adaptation with Lin Weimin. He is a famous Hollywood actor. Producer, when applying for a visa, the museum already knew the purpose of his trip and enthusiastically provided help.

"Mr. Phillips, welcome to China!"

In the coffee shop of Yanjing Hotel, Lin Weimin met Michael Phillips.

Michael Phillips is the quintessential elitist white guy, wearing a suit and meticulously coiffed.

He was a little surprised to see Lin Weimin. Although he already knew Lin Weimin's age and appearance from the information he had collected before, Michael Phillips couldn't help but exclaimed when he saw him in person: "Lin, you are so young!"

"Baby-faced Oriental, according to our Chinese saying, after this year, I will be thirty years old!"

Michael Phillips didn't know for a moment whether Lin Weimin was showing off or expressing sincere emotion.

After a few pleasantries, Michael Phillips got straight to the point and chatted with Lin Weimin about the adaptation of "The Intouchables".

"Lin, this time "The Last Emperor" has become the biggest winner of the Academy Awards. Hollywood's biggest gain is the discovery of you, a talented playwright. This movie is really amazing.

Of course, not only "The Last Emperor", "The Intouchables" and "The Kite Runner" are also excellent. I am a loyal viewer of your works..."

As soon as he came up, Michael Phillips poured ecstasy soup into Lin Weimin with ease.

"Mr. Phillips..."

Lin Weimin was naturally not interested in his rainbow fart. After listening to Phillips' long explanation, he was about to speak when Michael Phillips said: "Call me Mike, so I can get used to it more."

"Okay, Mike!" Lin Weimin followed suit and continued: "Mike, I don't know if you have talked to Mr. Bertolucci. For my script, I have strict requirements on my collaborators.

You know, coming from a theater background, we are all scriptwriter-centered and very sensitive to changes in the script. I know that producers have a very powerful say in Hollywood..."

Michael Phillips listened carefully when Lin Weimin spoke, but he couldn't help but frowned when he heard some of his requests about film production.

"Lin, film production is different from drama. Screenwriting is of course very important, but the role of other departments is also indispensable. You can't restrict the requirements so tightly." Michael Phillips said.

"Of course I know this. I think our original intention is the same, and we both want to make an outstanding movie. But we are in different positions. As the original creator of this work, I still hope more It stays true to its original flavor.”

Michael Phillips heard Lin Weimin's words and nodded, "We have a consensus. Lin, the direction of the production of "The Intouchables" is definitely a feature film. We have many years of experience in Broadway performances, and we will not waste it. You don’t have to worry so much when you have the strength to go to war on the script.”

"That's certainly the best, but I still want to be able to put some of my demands on paper."

Michael Phillips hesitated and said: "I'm afraid this will require careful negotiation."