American fame and fortune

In Davis Manor, a small party was being held.

Leonardo looked at Martin curiously: "You've been mysterious lately, and you won't even move when I ask you to come out for a drink."

Martin coughed: "I'm not feeling well, and I'm still contagious. I'm afraid I'll infect you."

Nicholson asked: "It's not serious, is it?"

Martin waved his hand: "It's not a big problem. He is fully healthy now."

Nicholson was not without regrets: "I originally wanted to ask you to go out and have fun together. Everything that has happened in Los Angeles recently is so interesting."

Leonardo said: "Man, you missed a great show."

Martin said: "I have read the reports in newspapers, TV and the Internet, and they are indeed exciting."

Nicholson said: "It's a pity that Michelle Bryan is dead, otherwise there would be more fun to watch."

Leonardo saw it clearly: "If she doesn't die, I don't know how far the trouble will go in North America, and some people in Washington will be involved."

Martin continued: "So, in order to avoid causing more trouble, Michelle very wisely chose to commit suicide."

The three bastards laughed at the same time.

This blatant suicide is so convincing!

Bruce came in from outside at this time, holding a stack of newspapers in his hand.

Nicholson asked curiously: "Old Boo, what's the fun?"

"It has something to do with Michelle Bryan." Bruce glanced at Martin and saw that he had no objection, and said directly: "One of the two people protesting in Ukraine this time is Michelle..."

Leonardo took over: "The other is Brunel, the French godfather of fashion. I know him."

Nicholson nodded: "I know Brunel too."

"The French authorities have just launched an investigation into Brunel, who hanged himself in his apartment in Paris," Bruce said.

Leonardo was a little surprised: "Suicide? Or hanging..."

"There's really no creativity at all," Nicholson said.

Martin said: "They moved so quickly, they cut off the two exposed hands directly."

Leonardo asked Bruce: "Are you sure he committed suicide?"

Bruce said: "The French held a press conference and announced that Brunel committed suicide, and his relatives accepted this result."

Nicholson got right to the point: "It is estimated that the relatives have taken over Brunel's inheritance."

"France is not far behind the United States when it comes to suicide," Martin said.

Leonardo said: "I also thought about going to Europe to watch a movie together when we had time, but in the end we didn't want to go."

After a good show came to an end, Nicholson was waiting to see the next good show. He suddenly changed the subject and reminded Leonardo: "Don't you and Martin have an agreement? Whoever wins the Oscar first will gain something."

Leonardo remembered this and corrected him: "It's not who wins the Oscar first, but he wants to win the Best Director, and I'm going to win the Best Actor again to see who gets it earlier. "

Martin denied: "It's obviously a competition to win the Best Actor Oscar again earlier!"

Leonardo was furious: "You are ready to be a director, why can't you pursue it?"

"That's the Oscar for Best Director!" Martin wanted to put his middle finger in front of Leonardo's face: "How many years did it take Director Scorsese to win the Best Director statuette? David Fincher spent another How many years has it taken? Even Spielberg has spent more than 10 years, and George Lucas has still not received the best director award..."

Leonardo did not give up the opportunity to squeeze Martin: "You always have a way."

"Have you finished the script for the movie you are going to direct?" Nicholson immediately interrupted Martin's excuse.

Martin nodded slightly and spoke to Bruce, who went to the study to get the script written by Bradett's team.

Nicholson took the script and flipped it over, read it for a while and said: "As expected of a member of the Bastard Trio, he knows how to take advantage of the situation. The scenes are ridiculously simple, there are very few characters, and the plot...well, the plot is a bit... It means, but it’s more about pleasing the current social situation and using women’s self-help as the theme.”

Leonardo also became interested and asked for the script. He quickly flipped through it and expressed his opinion: "The choice of the heroine is the key."

The old pervert immediately targeted the core: "This actress must have an outstanding figure and appearance."

"We came up with a piece," Martin said.

“Assholes and assholes always have the same opinion,” Nicholson said.

The three people discussed Martin's movie, and Leonardo even said that if he had time, he could also go to the set to guest-direct and film a short segment.

Martin obviously didn't attach great importance to this film, and he agreed immediately.

After Leonardo and Nicholson left, before Lily and Elizabeth came back, he called Blake Lively.

The latter has fully recovered from his injury and has begun fitness, swimming and surfing training.

In addition, after nearly a year of careful operation, Blake Lively's number of Twitter and INS fans has exploded, and the reputation of the lace leader has spread throughout the United States.

Looking at Hollywood, she is one of the female stars with the most online fans.

The next morning, Martin arrived at DC Films for a meeting.

The project of "Joker" has been officially approved. DC Films hired a screenwriter to come up with the idea of ​​the first version of the script and discuss the plot content with Martin, the actor and producer, and Nolan, the producer.

Scott, the head of the screenwriting team hired by DC, Hamada, the president of DC Films, and Warner Pictures, one of the film's investors and producers, all appeared in the conference room.

Martin, Nolan and Daniel, the president of Warner Pictures, sat on the same side of the long conference table.

Opposite, sat Scott, Phillips, Bruce Berman and other DC representatives.

Hamada presided over the meeting.

Because "Joker" is not part of the DC Justice League universe, neither Warner Bros. nor DC attaches much importance to the "Joker" project.

At the same time, "Man of Steel" is about to be released, "Batman v Superman" has entered the formal preparation stage, and "Joker" is still in the early stages of the project.

The projector was turned on, and creative text appeared on the screen. Screenwriter Scott pointed at the screen with a laser pointer and said: "In terms of plot, we plan to focus on the clown's family, the inheritance of his parents, and the abuse of him. The tragedy of the clown..."

"Wait." Martin interrupted Scott directly.

He had communicated with DC Films several times before and expressed his thoughts, but DC Films obviously did not pay attention to it and still went out of its way to come up with a main plot that was completely different from his ideas.

Scott glanced at Martin, then turned to Hamada. His plot idea was recognized by DC and Warner executives.

The project agreement had been signed long ago, and Warner Pictures had obtained the authorization from DC. Daniel said directly: "Martin, what do you think?"

Martin exchanged glances with Nolan first, and the two had already reached an agreement in private.

Then, he said: "The clown is not born a clown. Of course part of his problem comes from genetics."

Scott breathed a sigh of relief.

Martin added: "But the clown eventually turns into a madman and an agent of chaos. Environmental factors are also crucial!"

He looked around the conference room and raised his voice slightly: "This film will continue the style of "The Dark Knight", abandon the comic style, and continue the realistic style. In that case, the character of the Joker must be placed in a completely real social background. "

Nolan expressed support at the right time: "I agree with Martin's opinion."

Scott frowned slightly.

Hamada said: "I think this is always a comic book character..."

As a member of Warner Tiandan, Hamada talked a lot.

Martin didn't even listen. Warner's team's almost crazy performance in DC movies was too genius, and the "Joker" project couldn't bear it.

In his opinion, putting the opinions of Warner Group behind will naturally increase the success rate of the film.

This is also the easiest way to ensure the success of your film.

Martin waited until Hamada finished speaking and did not answer his words. He said directly: "Since the financial crisis in 2008, economic development has slowed down, and the lives of the middle and lower classes in society have been difficult. Too many people are not only facing economic pressure, but also cruel mental pressure. For There are countless people who are crazy, and there are even more people who have turned to crime.”

He asked rhetorically: "Would the clown's depravity be more convincing in this context?"

These are also in line with Nolan's ideas, he said: "This will make the character believable, more convincing, and can arouse broad emotional resonance."

Hamada still has a completely different opinion on this.

But before he could speak, Daniel added: "This is very important for the film's market prospects. We all know that more than 90% of the people who actually pay for a film are from the middle and lower classes of society."

Scott was not very happy. No one would be happy if the screenwriter saw that the ideas he had worked so hard to write were completely rejected.

But his opinions are not important, and his status is far from being able to compete with Martin and Nolan.

We can only win Hamada’s support.

Daniel further said: "I suggest hiring a new team of writers to create another script."

Hamada objected: "DC doesn't have the budget for this."

"Warner Pictures has it," Daniel said.

Martin answered: "Davis Studio also has one."

Hamada frowned. It was really hard for him to like this movie project that was not in line with the DC Justice League universe.

The most important thing is that if the style cannot be unified with the movie universe...

Daniel added: "This project should be completely handed over to Warner Pictures. Hamada, all your energy should be focused on the DC movie universe."

These words came to Hamada's heart, and he couldn't help but think about it.

The project has been authorized, the contract has been signed, and it is impossible to withdraw. His cooperation with Martin and Nolan always feels that everything is not smooth, and the two parties' ideas are very different.

Hamada was tired: "Leave this project to you, but DC will not invest any more money in it."

In this way, if the project fails, DC will have nothing to lose; if the project succeeds, DC will make a lot of money just from the copyright income.

Scott was anxious: "President Hamada..."

Hamada raised his hand and interrupted him: "I will initiate the withdrawal process. You and your screenwriting team will withdraw from the "Joker" project."

The screenwriter had no rights, so Scott kept his mouth shut.

The meeting ended with this. As for the script ideas that Scott had come up with, Martin gave up all of them and left with Daniel and Nolan.

The latter has to return to the studio to work on the post-production of "Interstellar" and directly adopts a completely supportive attitude towards Martin.

Daniel and Martin went to Warner Bros. to continue discussing the script.

Originally, Martin proposed a series of creative suggestions, hoping that DC would adopt them before writing a script.

But it turns out that he underestimated Warner's way of thinking.

The two sides are not on the same channel at all.

Coming to Daniel's office, Martin said: "It is good news that DC is not involved."

Daniel asked his assistant to bring tea and said, "The project preparation time will be postponed again."

Martin had something to think about when he came over: "We will take a year to complete the script, and then prepare the film."

Daniel thought of Martin's record and asked, "Is there a suitable screenwriter?"

Martin nodded: "My old friend and partner, Bradt."

Compared with outside screenwriters, Bradt has worked with Martin for many years and can fully understand Martin's intentions when writing the script.

For Martin, this is screenwriting gold.

Daniel said: "Yes, Bradt is an excellent screenwriter, and many of the works you have collaborated on have been huge successes."

Martin said: "Complete the script first, and we will talk about other preparations after the script is completed."

Daniel similarly: “That’s it for now.”

When Martin left Warner Pictures, he called Bradt. When he returned to Davis Studio, Bradt was already waiting at the studio.

The two have collaborated on multiple projects and directly discussed the creation of the script for "Joker".

In the next two days, Martin temporarily put aside other work and concentrated on discussing script creation with Bradett.

Bradt also came up with a simple outline as quickly as possible.

Compared with the unreliable Warner team, Martin is much more satisfied with the creativity of his partners over the years.

Bradett assured Martin that he would be able to complete the first draft of the script for "Joker" in no more than six months.

This will not be an action movie. It will completely abandon the exaggerated designs in comics and tell the story of how a person embarks on his own path to becoming a demon amidst "social unrest".

Entering mid-October, Martin temporarily put aside other matters and joined the cast of "La La Land". Together with director Damien Chazelle and actress Saoirse Ronan, they began the pre-screening of "La La Land" publicity.

The film began a period of explosive publicity before its release. Various announcements and roadshows were intensively launched, and posters, trailers and advertisements were all over the streets of North America.

Disney Pictures also held a preview screening for "La La Land" and it received unanimous praise. Theater managers believed it was the best Hollywood musical in the past decade.

Although musicals are in decline nowadays, every two or three years, a musical will appear that is a hit in terms of reputation and box office, such as "Chicago", "Mamma Mia", "Pitch Perfect" and so on.

This shows that there is always a certain market space for musical and dance films.

Martin started a three-point and one-line lifestyle of airports, hotels and announcements again.

The film is popular enough and has a good reputation in test screenings. North American theater chains have also arranged for the opening of 3,955 theaters for "La La Land".