China Entertainment: Director’s happiness is so simple

"Let's play freely a few times."

The shooting scene of the public service advertisement "Packaging".

Lu Pingan gave the order to a table of actors in the restaurant.

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and looked at the tall white man outside the crew who had been waiting all morning.

Nolan was dressed in formal attire, a black suit and trousers, a white shirt and tie.

In my impression, Nolan always dressed like this in front of the camera, with his hair parted to the side. Lu Ping'an really wondered if there were all sets of shirts and suits hanging in Nolan's wardrobe. Just the color is slightly different.

Seeing Lu Pingan looking over, Nolan smiled at him.

Lu Pingan also nodded and smiled, and then continued to look back at the monitor.

Nolan didn't feel neglected. After all, the other party was at work and he had something to ask for, so it wasn't a big problem to wait for a while.

Now Nolan is famous, but not very famous.

After spending $6,000 to make his first movie "The Following" in 1996, he has only two new films so far.

"Memento" and "White Night", both movies have good box office, which gives him some capital to fight for big IP and big production to become a big director.

Batman is his target.

This IP series of movies is almost dead now. If it can be brought back to life, the impact will be greater than making a few blockbuster original movies.

After all, making a movie depends on the fan base.

Batman is an IP that has been around for decades and has a huge fan base.

So before talking to Warner, he had a rough idea of ​​how the movie would be shot.

Just as we had just determined the general direction, we heard the news that Warner had rented out "Batman."

The good news is that the renter is also an old friend of his.

"Memento" was discovered by Summit back then, and the relationship between the two parties was not bad.

Nolan tried calling to see if there was a chance to participate.

He didn't hold out much hope. After all, IP leasing is not uncommon in Hollywood, and the company that rents the IP must have a plan, otherwise it wouldn't spend a high price like "taking advantage of others."

But what he didn't expect was that Dingfeng actually told him that they could talk.

But there is still little hope. Peak Wattsberg said that this is an opportunity given out of honor for an old friend, and success or failure is not guaranteed.

Nolan feels that if there is an opportunity, he must seize it.

As for the worst outcome, he has actually already thought about it.

Then the crew continued filming, and Nolan was watching the filming process. He already knew the general situation of the project.

This is a public service announcement about caring for Alzheimer's disease.

The creativity and script are all written by Lu Ping'an.

The key is that after Lu Pingan won the short film Grand Slam, he turned down millions of dollars in commercials and only accepted public service announcements. This made Nolan a little awe-inspiring.

Half an hour later, the filming of "Packaging" was completed.

A very simple commercial can be shot in one morning, and the rest is post-production, including music and narration, which takes no more than a week.

We will start filming "What Is Love" starting in the afternoon. The actors have already been found and it can be done in one afternoon.

After the shooting, everyone took the opportunity to have lunch in the restaurant.

Lu Ping'an just met Nolan.

"Hello, Director Lu."

"Hello, Director Nolan."

Lu Pingan shook hands with the slightly embarrassed future director, and then asked, "Do you mind eating together?"

"Of course, I've been longing for Chinese food for a long time."

Nolan had kind words.

Lu Ping'an didn't care whether it was true or not, and invited him to sit down and eat together.

During the whole meal, we didn’t talk about the project, we just chatted briefly, and the topic mostly revolved around Chinese food.

Chinese people are hospitable, and Nolan was either polite or really attracted to the Chinese food and ate quite happily.

“Authentic Chinese food is better than I expected.”

After eating, Nolan gave a thumbs up.

Lu Ping Anhe responded with a smile: "Come back often in the future."

After eating, the crew moved to the shooting location of the next commercial. Lu Pingan did not chat with Nolan about business, but continued to work.

The advertisement "What Is Love" has eight actors, all of whom were found by CCTV. There are no stars. The purpose is to weaken the attention of the actors and highlight the theme.

Everyone respected Lu Ping'an after seeing him.

We met briefly, chatted about the script and then started filming.

Nolan also roughly knew the theme of the advertisement through the translator. How could he not know? Anyway, paying respect to Lu Ping An was there from the beginning.

About three hours later, the shooting of the commercial was completed. It was still a very simple commercial, with just a few shots and a quick walk.

The crew's affairs were left to the employees, and Lu Ping'an then focused on Nolan.

The two came to the company, made tea, and started talking about business.

"Director Nolan, the investment in Batman will exceed 100 million US dollars. If you want to be the director, please give me a reason to convince me."

Lu Ping'an didn't talk nonsense and asked directly.

The other party has a good attitude and is the original owner.

You must definitely give.

But the process will definitely take a while.

Nolan also came prepared. He is not yet completely sure that Lu Pingan will become the director of Batman, but he knows that Lu Pingan is the person in charge of this project. Watts said that this project Lu Pingan said Have the final say.

So if you really want to win over the director, you have to get Lu Ping'an.

He said seriously: "I have been studying Batman for a long time."

He only gave a general idea.

Everything was said verbally, and Nolan knew how to hold back.

In terms of scripts, if we want to revitalize the IP, we must make Batman more three-dimensional. The perspective starts from before Batman and guides the audience to re-understand this superhero step by step.

As for actors, he highly recommends his friend Christian Bale, the male lead in the original version.

Regarding filming, he suggested using IMAX-related equipment to make the film the best it can be and give movie fans a new visual experience.

In terms of funding, he knew that the contract between Summit and Warner was no less than 100 million.

He said that as a director, he would try his best to control the number around 100 million while ensuring quality.

Nolan talked a lot, but Lu Pingan's expression was calm.

This made Nolan a little confused. Did he speak too fast and he couldn't understand, or was his idea unable to arouse his interest?

Just as he was thinking about it, Lu Ping'an spoke: "The idea is very good, very similar to mine."

It is indeed similar, but also very different.

Either the other party is retaining too much.

Either that or the final script is very different from the original.

But it doesn't matter, because Lu Ping'an's script is a complete trilogy.

Now that Nolan's initial thoughts are similar to Lu Ping'an's thoughts, we can have a round of "appreciation".

When Nolan heard this, his eyes lit up, and he felt a little happy.

He is not here to compete for IP, but to compete for directors. To put it bluntly, he is here to work.

If you agree with your boss, your success rate will naturally be much higher.

Nolan couldn't help but said confidently: "It seems that if we cooperate, it will be very happy."

After saying that, he asked again: "Lu, do you have a director?"

Lu Ping'an smiled and said, "You don't seem to be very good at negotiating."

A bit reckless.

This cannot be translated.

But Lu Ping'an did think so.

Nolan spread his hands: "I am a director. I am here just out of professionalism and love. What I can tell you is that I am fully confident to do this project well. If you leave it to me, I will definitely give you a satisfactory result." ."

A very American way of negotiating.

He really doesn't have much leverage.

The past performance is average, not much different from Ping An's current performance in Hollywood. It does not involve any big IPs, does not have any particularly impressive connections in Hollywood, and the team under its command is not large.

What works is only talent and sincerity.

This is the dilemma of most young directors.

Besides, this is still a big project.

Of course, if you do this, there is a high probability that the drama of Bole meeting a thousand-mile horse will not happen.

Fortunately, Nolan had already thought of this worst-case scenario and was mentally prepared.

So I came here to try for it.

Just like when Lu Pingping asked someone about "Batman".

It's just luck if you can succeed, and it doesn't matter if you can't, but you still have to ask.

"I have to say that you traveled thousands of miles to China and waited for me on the set for a whole day. Your sincerity really touched me."

Lu Ping'an also praised him at this time.

But then he added, "But without a script, I can't give you an answer just by talking."

Nolan was a little helpless after hearing this. The script was just a rough idea and he didn't register it because he didn't have time. He called last night. After Lu Ping'an learned about the situation, he made an appointment with him today. There was no time.

Even the things I just mentioned were all temporary thoughts on the plane and today.

Furthermore, even if you take out the script now, there is no guarantee that others will not steal it.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in Hollywood. One side is strong and the other is weak.

What's more, it's still China, a place I'm not familiar with, and the lawsuits are all transnational, which makes it even more difficult.

So Nolan said: "My script hasn't been registered yet, but I can give it to you when I get back."

"Then there's no way."

Lu Pingping directly spread his hands.

Nolan sighed inwardly. Sure enough, the worst case scenario happened.

"Then you have to use my script."

As a result, Lu Ping'an said something again at this time.

Nolan: "???"

Lu Ping'an didn't explain, but smiled and took out the thick script from the drawer, from the first to the third part, complete.

"This is my script, you have to read it first."

If you take it out now, it will cut off the person's future. Otherwise, if the other party is both a director and an editor, then there will be no problem with Lu Ping'an.

Nolan took the script with excitement in his heart.

After reading the first few pages of the first part, I suddenly realized that Lu Ping'an was right.

The two people's ideas are indeed somewhat close, but Lu Ping'an's script is too complete.

Keep reading, the second and third parts are all quite exciting.

No wonder Summit has the confidence to waste money!

At this moment, he suddenly noticed the signature of the script, and then he realized a question: "Lu, the director, is it you too?"

There was shock in Nolan's eyes, but more importantly, disappointment.

If Lu Ping'an is the director, then what else does he have to do?

He is both the person in charge and the director, and his ideas are better than his own. How could he give it to himself?

However, Lu Pingan said at this time: "If you can come up with a detailed shooting plan within a month, I can let you be the director."

Is there anyone who refuses this?

After hearing this, Nolan directly assured: "No problem, regardless of the reason."

This is the road to great directors!

He's bound to win the Batman movie!