China Entertainment King of Science Fiction

Chapter 212 Casting is a difficult problem

"The Matrix" is Chen Jingxing's new film - he thinks that the name of "The Matrix" cannot be said poorly, but it has an obvious Chinese translation style of Hollywood commercial blockbusters. The movie title is very gimmick and can arouse curiosity at first sight, but it seems

It's a bit popular, so Chen Jingxing still feels that a name that's a little more obscure and more in line with the theme of the movie is more appropriate.

"Matrix" is obviously inappropriate. It is too obscure and ambiguous. At first glance, it does not match the temperament of the movie. "Huaxu Kingdom" will make people think that it is a costume myth film, "Machine Revolution" or directly "Cat".

"Inside the Brain" feels too straightforward.

"The Matrix" is a more appropriate name, as it fits the theme. After all, the Matrix is ​​the main scene of the story, and the story itself is the revolution of the Matrix. It also has a strong character. The temperament of the word "Matrix" itself is very sci-fi.

Of course, the main concern of other people at DreamWorks is that the movie's title has no gimmicks, and if the leading actors don't have stars that they can pull off, it may have a negative impact on the movie's commercial performance.

If we go back more than a year ago, to be honest, Chen Jingxing would not have dared to do this. However, he and DreamWorks are no longer unknown. They are already well-known brands both at home and abroad.

There is "willful" capital.

What's more, the cast of "The Matrix" in the previous life was not very strong. Neither the actor Keanu Reeves nor the other actors were considered A-list actors in Hollywood before they participated in "The Matrix".

The impactful images presented by "The Matrix" are the main reason why it exploded into the market. In one word, it is "cool", which is extremely cool. This caused it to attract a wide audience after the first trailer was released.

interest.

When the original movie premiered, it didn't get many theaters or film schedules. Warner didn't fully support this original science fiction movie. The opening of the 2700 theater is not the treatment of an A-level production.

However, with its extremely cool picture style and novel and impactful science fiction concept, both the film schedule and the number of theaters have been increasing steadily, and it has staged a beautiful counterattack curve, dominating the box office for 37 consecutive days.

It only fell out of the top three at the daily box office after three months of release. It also achieved incredible success in other overseas countries and regions. This is a very terrible result for a relatively hard science fiction movie.

Chen Jingxing believes that "The Matrix" is not a so-called "people-protection drama" but a "theater-protection drama". In fact, this movie does not require high-level acting skills at all. In order to fit the temperament of the film as much as possible, Wadro

The Ski brothers also asked the actors to make less expressions and wear sunglasses. It can be said that the actors' performances in many plots are like models on the show. They just need to be cool and handsome.

Chen Jingxing traveled to this world to be a director. It is said that the butt determines the head. After making so many movies, his current philosophy is not to respect "thousands of people with thousands of faces". He prefers to find the right actor to play the right role.

, instead of looking for an actor who uses his acting skills to fit the role, and he doesn't like an actor whose personal characteristics are so strong that they take over the main role and affect the temperament of the entire movie.

On the contrary, if an actor really achieves "showing off one's face" or "thousands of people", then he will definitely not have any appeal at all. This is why it is easier for comedians or actors who are related to comedy.

The reason for its stable box office appeal is that comedy performances focus on a fixed style. If you dare to change the style at will, the audience may not buy it.

First-line actors, especially actors with market appeal, must have their own unique characteristics. In other words, the actor's own shadow can be found in any role he plays - this is the guarantee of market appeal. Most ordinary audiences are attracted to them.

Does an actor pay money to go to a movie theater just to watch him perform "Thousands of Faces"? Of course not, it's just because of the actor's style and characteristics.

However, this kind of selecting roles from unknown artists is no easier than contacting well-known actors for auditions. It also requires a lot of time and energy. The most important thing is that the news of selecting the leading actor in Chen Jingxing's new film cannot be directly disclosed to Chen Jingxing.

If you think about it from this perspective, choosing a non-famous actor will help him fully display the aesthetic style unique to "The Matrix" in the movie. After all, actors with thousands of faces are myths, and even if they exist, they are prime supporting roles.

No matter how awesome people are, they can't escape the constraints of interpersonal relationships. This is the reason why DreamWorks keeps this project strictly confidential. Many companies and artists in the industry already know that "Gravity" has reached the stage of post-production special effects.

So is Chen Jingxing’s new film already in preparation?

It’s just that the film market must follow business laws, and an ideal world does not exist. Therefore, no matter how big-name a director is, he must consider the commercial influence of actors and cannot really "act arbitrarily" according to his own ideas. However, for the project "The Matrix"

, Chen Jingxing believes that you can still be "willful" and don't have to think too much about the actor's fame or even box office appeal.

Now that the boss has made up his mind, Xu Wenshen and others will no longer continue to struggle. Who in DreamWorks can be more authoritative on film projects than Chen Jingxing?

Chen Jingxing has seen many movies with good science fiction concepts, but there are not many science fiction movies that have their own aesthetic style, and this aesthetic style can be accepted and shocked by the audience. The greatness of "The Matrix" is not only

Just because of its novel science fiction concept.

When there is no news, many companies and artists are already vying for this piece of pie. Just because DreamWorks has not revealed a word and has not announced new projects yet, so first-line actors and well-known artists can still

Stay reserved, once Chen Jingxing reveals that he will choose a male and female lead, maybe major companies will usher in the "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea to Show Their Magical Powers".

If some companies and big figures in the industry really come to "PR", Chen Jingxing will also be under a lot of pressure. After all, DreamWorks is just a production company and does not have real theater resources. His first few movies were all successful.

The main reason is that he got on the Internet capital car early, has a good relationship with the National Film Group, and through capital operations, he has attracted the two giants United Cinemas and Tianrun.

On their side, they also gave them half of the production share of each movie.

The above-mentioned measures make the development of DreamWorks seem to be extremely smooth, and the release of each movie is smooth without any setbacks. Otherwise, how could it be so simple? In this market where the number of screens is rapidly expanding, theaters are the best.

Either you directly control part of the theater resources, or you have the support of a big studio, or you have strong capital as a backer, otherwise you may not even have the opportunity to compete fairly with others.

Rather than waiting for friendly partners such as Huanshi.com, United Cinemas, or even China Film Group to come forward, it is better to quietly select the actors yourself, and then directly announce the actors and actresses together with the project.

Avoid the trouble of explanation.

(End of chapter)