Millennium director

Los Angeles, Paramount Pictures headquarters.

Linda Obst, the film producer of the "Interstellar" project, and theoretical physicist Kip S. Thorne came to Paramount early and met with two Paramount executives , waiting in the conference room.

"I really didn't expect that it would be Daniel who would take over the film in the end."

"Yeah, I didn't expect Spielberg to break up with Paramount."

"I don't know if Daniel's views on this movie will conflict with ours."

"No matter what, my principles will not change. The content of the movie cannot violate the existing laws of physics. All imagination must be based on science and not just the imagination of the screenwriter and director!"

"Of course, I agree with you."

Linda Obst and Kip S. Thorne huddled together, talking in whispers.

The two of them had already had the idea for the movie "Interstellar" as early as 2000, and later attracted the interest of Steven Spielberg in directing. Development of the movie began in June 2006.

In March 2007, director Nolan's brother Jonathan Nolan was hired to write the script for the film.

By now, the script for "Interstellar" has been almost polished. As a result, Spielberg and Paramount broke up last year, and the project was shelved and no further progress was made.

Originally, Linda Obst thought that "Interstellar" might fail and would not be launched again for at least the next five years.

After all, apart from Spielberg, there is no other top science fiction director in Hollywood who can take over the work of this movie.

Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the worse.

Wu Yuan suddenly contacted Paramount, hoping to take over the filming of "Interstellar" and was willing to co-finance it with Light Times.

The "Interstellar" project itself is an original hard science fiction film with extremely high risks. It can be said that except for a few directors such as Spielberg and Cameron, the risk of losing money for other directors to film is very high.

If Wu Yuan just wanted to take over the project without sharing the investment, Paramount might still hesitate.

After all, although Wu Yuan did an excellent job in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, "Pirates of the Caribbean" is a fantasy movie, which is very different from hard science fiction, and it has some influence from Disney.

What?

You mean "Gravity"?

Even if a Chinese science fiction movie has a box office of nearly 100 million US dollars in China, in the eyes of Hollywood giants, it is not worth mentioning and cannot be used as a criterion for judging.

However, if Wu Yuan is willing to share the cost, the situation will be different.

When the risk is reduced, Paramount is quite willing to let Wu Yuan give this project a try. After all, with Spielberg "defecting" Disney, Paramount can't find a more suitable director than him. .

Rather than letting the "Interstellar" project be shelved indefinitely, it would be better for Wu Yuan to give it a try.

That's why today's meeting happened.

The person in charge of Paramount and the core creator of "Interstellar" are waiting for Wu Yuan's arrival to interview him.

Ten minutes later, Wu Yuan, who arrived on time, walked into the conference room under the guidance of a staff member.

Everyone sitting in the conference room stood up to greet him.

"Daniel, welcome to Paramount."

Seeing so many people arriving, Wu Yuan was a little surprised: "Sorry, am I late?"

"No." A vice president of Paramount said with a smile: "We arrived early. This is the respect we should have for a top Hollywood director."

"Please take a seat."

Wu Yuan then sat down, looked around at the group of blond foreigners, nodded and said: "Then, let's talk about the cooperation on "Interstellar"."

Regarding commercial cooperation, John has already negotiated with Paramount on behalf of Light Times.

The production cost of "Interstellar" is currently US$180 million, of which Paramount will contribute US$52 million, Universal will contribute US$46 million, Light Times will contribute US$48 million, and the remaining two independent film companies will each contribute US$1,700. Ten thousand.

Together, Paramount and Universal are the main investors in this project, and these two companies have the greatest say.

There is no way. This kind of film with an investment of more than 100 million US dollars and the goal of global distribution can only be done by cooperating with the six major companies. It is impossible for Light Times to even think about starting a new venture on its own.

After determining their respective investment shares, the cooperation is basically finalized.

The current meeting is more related to the specific preliminary preparations for the project.

"Daniel, as per your request, we have contracted a 500-acre farm (about 30,000 acres) in the Okotoks area south of Calgary, Alberta, Canada."

"The team is currently building a road leading to the filming location and is sowing corn. It is expected to take half a year to grow just before the filming starts."

Linda Obst, the producer in charge of the team's control, immediately told Wu Yuan about his first arrangement after taking over "Interstellar".

Growing corn in Canada!

According to the script, in the future, crops on Earth will often fail due to climate change and blight, and only corn can be grown.

The actor Cooper, who was once a space shuttle pilot, was also forced to become a farmer to help solve the food crisis and grow corn on Earth.

In order to show that corn has been grown in the most unsuitable places on earth for growing corn. Alberta, which has a cold climate and the lowest temperature in winter is about minus 50 degrees, is a very suitable place to reflect this background.

Linda Obst can understand Wu Yuan's request for the crew to grow corn in Alberta.

This is not 2016. Although it may be more convenient to use computer special effects to create cornfields, the resulting CG special effects are not realistic enough.

At least in the eyes of old-school producers like Linda Obst, this kind of plot that can be completed in real shots must be the most realistic in real shots. He very much supports Wu Yuan's idea.

"Ha, maybe when the movie is finished, we can sell these 30,000 acres of corn. Not only can we recover the cost of renting the land, but we can also make a small profit." Linda Obst said very optimistically.

"What you asked for is a way to artificially create a "black dust storm." Some technicians and I also found a good choice."

Science advisor Kip S. Thorne also spoke out: "There is a chemical material C-90, which is a non-toxic, biodegradable material made of shredded cardboard that is safe enough to be used in some applications. Processed food fillers can be exactly what you want to simulate the grit and immersion of a sandstorm, but are light enough to achieve the hovering effect Nolan wanted."

"With some large blowers, we can indeed artificially create a small black dust storm."

Wu Yuan listened and nodded: "So, we are only left with the most important spaceship that we haven't finished yet?"

"Yes." Kip S. Thorne nodded: "But the team has studied the International Space Station documentary and visited the space technology company, and already has an idea."

"There are three kinds of spacecraft that appear in the film - the Ranger, the Lander and the Forever."

"The Eternal circular mothership that has appeared the most is composed of 12 compartments and rotates at 5 times per minute to generate 1G of gravity through centripetal force."

"Connected by an airlock system and curved continuous floors, 12 compartments assume different missions: four engine compartments, four permanent compartments, and include living areas, cockpits, cryogenic rooms and medical laboratories and Four landing modules that will be placed on the surface of the new planet.”

"We held many meetings and discussed it, and felt that we could make a model more than 10 meters long using steel and polystyrene. We also designed hydraulic landing gear, airtight cabin, waterproof layer, freezing bed and hydraulic seat. Through a six-axis With a universal joint, the operator can precisely control its movement."

"I heard that you used LED screens to play the space environment and simulate space during the filming of "Gravity". This is a great idea."

"During filming, the actors can see through the portholes the same scene as in real space. The precise and huge projection allows them to quickly immerse themselves in the space situation. We also plan to adopt this design."

"Of course, the most difficult thing about this movie is the wormhole described in the plot, the world composed of the theory of relativity, and the huge real black hole."

"How to accurately depict wormholes and black holes in movies may require us to discuss and study together. I hope that based on Einstein's relativity equations, the most realistic representation of the black hole pattern under current scientific research can be achieved."

"This may be a large project, and visual effects production requires a large number of manpower and consultants with rich knowledge of theoretical physics to follow the entire process."

Kip S. Thorne is a physicist himself. He has an extremely rigorous attitude towards science. He also confirmed with Wu Yuan repeatedly before cooperation that "Interstellar" must obey the basic laws of physics and cannot be like Like some soft science fiction movies in Hollywood, they all rely on one's imagination to create plots that seriously violate the laws of physics.

Yes, we're talking about those superhero blockbusters.

Wu Yuan certainly agrees with this. He also knows that the reason why "Interstellar" was later regarded as a masterpiece is because it is extremely real.

Even the black hole model scenes made in the movie were found to be surprisingly consistent with reality after the first real photo of a black hole was taken on Earth, and it became popular again.

Wu Yuan certainly recognized this rigor and scientific foresight.

"No problem. We still have half a year of preparation time to form a large scientific advisory team. I believe we will discuss a suitable special effects presentation method that conforms to the laws of physics." Wu Yuan assured.

Kip S. Thorne nodded with satisfaction. It seemed that Wu Yuan, like Spielberg, was a rigorous director who pursued authenticity.

On the side, Paramount executives who had been listening quietly to their discussion coughed at the right time, interrupting the discussion between the two.

"Gentlemen, before discussing the specific plot design, should we first finalize the starring candidates for this movie?"

"Who should we find to play the leading role?"

"Leonardo DiCaprio?" (End of Chapter)