China Entertainment King of Science Fiction

Chapter 406: It’s okay to get a few Oscar nominations

"District 9" is very solid in terms of story and script, but to be honest, if it weren't for Chen Jingxing's name, Universal Pictures would definitely not be interested in it, let alone agree to co-produce it.

In the previous life, "District 9" was pushed around and moved around the desks of producers at major studios, but no one was interested in it.

It wasn't until he met Peter Jackson, the director of "Lord of the Rings", that he was impressed by the film master and invested 30 million US dollars to shoot this movie.

In fact, just the ugly alien image is enough to dissuade most investors.

It doesn't matter if the aliens are ugly. The alien monsters in "Edge of Tomorrow" are also scary, but they are the villains.

The alien in "District 9" is not the villain, but can even be said to be the protagonist of the entire movie.

The audience's initial disgust and disgust towards the alien prawns must be gradually transformed into sympathy and even empathy, not to mention that the male protagonist will also turn into such an ugly monster image.

Therefore, the ugly image of aliens is an obstacle to the audience's empathy. Of course, if the audience can really empathize, it will indeed produce a more shocking effect.

Secondly, the ending is not satisfactory and somewhat depressing.

It wouldn't be too out of the ordinary to put the story of "District 9" into a unique IP like "Black Mirror", but a theatrical movie is another matter.

However, for this reason, Chen Jingxing made a special trip to the filming locations in South Africa. When "Spike II" and "Operation Red Sea" were being filmed in North Africa, he never came to visit.

He has never seen a producer with such a long hand. Aren't producers supposed to wipe the director's butt and assist the director in filming? At most, they can supervise the filming progress and the flow of funds. To put it bluntly, they are the financial affairs of the entire crew.

Great housekeeper.

But in Thomas Tull's view, the work he did was within the normal authority of a producer.

Even if Universal Pictures treats DreamWorks as an equal partner and will impose restrictions on these people, these people, especially producer Thomas Tull, will still involuntarily bring his working habits in Hollywood into "Part 1".

District Nine".

The nominal heroine Wan Qian can only be envied. Her role is small, the performance is not difficult, and the interpretation space is very narrow. Naturally, she has no hope of winning awards. Compared with the heroine in "Source Code"

That character is a bit inferior.

Zhang Yi's English is not very good, so the difficulty of interpreting the role combined with the English lines really made it very difficult for him to film. What supported him was that he could make a classic and win a heavyweight award.

Whether Chen Jingxing's words were comforting or sincere, they were indeed a great encouragement to Tian Xinye and Zhang Yi.

In the surprise and envy of Tian Xinye, Wan Qian and others, Zhang Yi was stunned for a moment, but he immediately regained his composure: "Hey, I will be satisfied if I can win a domestic award. Director Chen, please don't paint a big picture for me."

Oh, it makes me feel very anxious."

After the meeting at the hotel, Chen Jingxing followed Tian Xinye and several leading actors to take a look at the filming site.

Hearing this, Tian Xinye was also secretly excited. The worries of arguing with the Universal production team these days have completely dissipated. He is indeed quite optimistic about the script of "District 9", and he is optimistic about winning awards.

Many people's impression of South Africa's slums is that they are rare white slums in the world. South Africa does have white slums, but there are also slums for people of other skin colors.

"District 9" is definitely one of the most difficult movies to make in his career, because his character is a staff member stationed by the United Nations in South Africa to deal with matters in "District 9". Most of the entire movie has English lines, and only

He speaks Chinese in some scenes with his girlfriend Wan Qian, and in some scenes with the alien prawn, he speaks Chinese in a hurry.

"Good guy, are you experiencing life here?" Chen Jingxing looked at the place where Zhang Yi lived. It was surrounded by four wooden boards and had an iron roof.

But just because he doesn't understand doesn't mean he doesn't admire him: "Brother Zhang, you are here for the Best Actor Award. If "District 9" gets a good response by then, we will work with Universal to get you an Oscar Best Actor nomination.

It’s not impossible.”

Director Tian Xinye also joked: "I sent the photo to Director Guo at that time, and Director Guo said that I abused you and that your color number has become darker again."

The other members of the crew stayed in a hotel in the center of Cape Town. They filmed during the day and took several buses rented by the crew back to the hotel at night. Only Zhang Yi specifically applied to the director and producer to live in the slums.

, it is said that it can enter the state better.

Zhang Yi's skin was tanned even darker than when she was filming "Operation Red Sea". She greeted the two children who were peeking at the door in Afrikaans, and then sighed: "I can't find a state? Besides, this is not the case.

More difficult than "Red Sea"."

After all, Chen Jingxing is a director, not an actor, so he cannot understand this mysterious and mysterious state. After all, the movies he makes are famous for "the story is greater than the character". The characters are all tool men, and usually do not require the actors to contribute much.

His acting skills, otherwise actors such as Luo Chen, Hu Ge, and Lu Hongzhe would not frequently be his leading actors.

Coupled with the fact that the cast is a mixed bag of actors and actresses, there is a language barrier, there are problems with teaming up, and there are also problems with uploading and distributing. Chen Jingxing really underestimated the difficulty of co-production.

Moreover, this version of "District 9" co-produced by DreamWorks and Universal Pictures has a greater investment, mainly because it no longer uses pseudo-documentary shooting techniques, and the scenes are larger and require a lot of special effects. At the end of the film

The mecha combat scenes will also be more intense.

Chen Jingxing also tried to please the audience as much as possible without detracting from the core value of the film.

DreamWorks has a cash flow that makes other film companies the envy of other movie companies. For a movie's box office, DreamWorks has no shortage of box office bombs.

In fact, the filming of "District 9" was far less strenuous than that of "Red Sea", but Chen Jingxing was still a little stunned that Zhang Yi had been living in a slum.

But he couldn't accept Universal Pictures' attempt to change the ending.

"How can this be called pie-in-the-sky? "District 9" also has investment from Universal. That's what Global PR should do. I think it's okay to get a few Oscar nominations." Chen Jingxing still has some thoughts on "District 9"

Confident.

The producers and supervisors sent by Universal are also quite big names, and they all have experience in producing many Hollywood blockbusters. Coupled with the producer-centered system of Hollywood, it is no wonder that these people often work in cooperation with other countries on projects.

There is a condescending perspective.

It's a bit strange to say that Zhang Yi's acting skills have always been rated relatively high. He himself feels that his acting skills are not bad. He has made many good films and worked with many good directors and good teams, but he has never won any heavyweight awards.

awards, especially those for Best Actor.

The main filming location of "District 9" is a motley slum in Cape Town.

In the eyes of those who have seen the operation of the Hollywood film industry, if your production and shooting are different from Hollywood rules, it is not advanced enough, and the film industry is backward. If you want to make commercial blockbusters, you still have to listen to us.

After all, the production team is jointly formed by DreamWorks and Universal Pictures. Each party has two producers, and actors from the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild make up the majority of the crew. These disputes can easily poison the atmosphere of the crew, and Chen Jingxing has to personally take action."

"Mediate".

Maybe the ending is more satisfying, but the tone of the entire movie is ruined, making such a unique science fiction movie even more mediocre.

Filming here was much smoother than "Operation Red Sea" and "Spike II". After all, South Africa is the most developed country in Africa, and film and television shooting is still very welcome. The production team contacted the local government and guides, and also provided

The residents of the slums were given some money, so there was basically no trouble during the filming.

An internationally renowned director with a global box office of billions of dollars can still treat the "producer-centered system" as rubbish under his feet even if he is filming in Hollywood. The producers of Universal Pictures cannot show any sense of superiority in front of him.

.

Science fiction movies and science fiction dramas are different, the investment is different, and the expected commercial returns are even different.

No wonder there are so many bad co-productions. Chen Jingxing can only comfort himself that he has to learn lessons in the future.

Even if he fails to be nominated for an Oscar, he should be fine with winning a few domestic awards.

If it were an ordinary project, it's not like he wouldn't know how to mix it up. Anyway, the performance wouldn't stretch his hips, but he might not be willing to put in so much energy.

Therefore, Chen Jingxing interrupted the filming for a day as soon as he arrived, and convened a meeting with the heads of the production team and other departments of the crew at the hotel. He made it clear that the shooting of "District 9" should be directed by director Tian Xinye, and that other people, including the producer, should not override the director.

above.

Even if Chen Jingxing has made science fiction movies himself, apart from the first two "Comet" and "Fatal Identity", which of the remaining ones is not a perfect one?

The depressing ending may be a plus for movie reviews, but it's a minus for the box office.

If Chen Jingxing were just a company boss, he might not be able to convince these Hollywood gold medal producers, but obviously his director status would be more useful.

"Operation Red Sea" has a lot of action scenes. As a non-action actor, Zhang Yi still had a very hard time filming, and his body was covered in bruises and bruises.

There are mainly white slums and mixed-race slums here. There are indeed no slums inhabited by purely black people.

This made Tian Xinye, who had been in the DreamWorks production environment, quite uncomfortable.

Tian Xinye is not someone who is indifferent to fame and fortune. Even a low-key actor like Zhang Yi has expectations for fame and fortune, otherwise why would he work so hard?

From the moment he received the script for "District 9", Zhang Yi had a hunch that this would be his best chance to win an award.

On the one hand, it is to support Tian Xinye, and on the other hand, as the boss of DreamWorks and the Oscar-winning director, it is to extend an olive branch to the producers of Universal, to ease the atmosphere between the two parties, and at least not to bring any disputes into the work.

However, Chen Jingxing can only do nothing about this. In addition to the feature of "the story is greater than the character", his movies, or the entire DreamWorks TV series, have a strong yang and a weak yin. The heroine of "Gravity" is simply a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

, this is why Wu Yue is envied by many domestic actresses.

Not only in China, but also in Hollywood, movies are dominated by yang and yang. There are really few commercial movies with big heroines, but TV series with big heroines are prevalent. This is a market tendency shaped by the audience and target groups, and it will not be solved for a while.

However, Wan Qian is satisfied that even the most popular 85 flowers these days do not have much box office. She has the heroine of "Source Code", "Xiu Chun Dao II", and now the heroine of "District 9"

host.

She is actually the number one heroine with rimming, but a heroine is a heroine, and her reputation can be counted as her actual performance. How many female stars out there want to get on the DreamWorks train but still can't.

(End of chapter)