The Best Director

After one and a half months, the filming of "Juno" was completed, and the crew was disbanded. (Read the novel) Farewell to the quiet and beautiful town of Toronto, Natalie Portman boarded the plane to Sydney; and Wang Yang took the shooting results, Returned to Los Angeles with Michael Pitt, Joshua and others. After attending the premiere of "High School Musical 2", Wang Yang had a rest for not two days, and his life once again entered into the busy post-production of the film.

When looking for editor candidates for "Juno", Wang Yang naturally considered and interviewed his old partner Margaret Goodspeed first. As a woman, Gretel has unique insights into the story of "Juno". After talking with Wang Yang, she also knows what he wants, and understands the charm of Juno's character "independent, freehand, cool" ", and also knew that the film's style rhythm was "warm and sunny", and finally she passed the interview easily, and the two collaborated for the third time.

The scheduled length of "Juno" is 120 minutes, how to edit it? From a certain point of view, the rhythm of this movie is somewhat similar to "When Happiness Comes Knocking on the Door". They are both character dramas, which revolve around an event and a change in life to promote time and stories. , "When Happiness Knocks" is that Chris Gardner is going to be a stockbroker; "Juno" is that Juno is pregnant. So this movie is still a single-line structure of the time axis. Juno found out that she was pregnant, conspired to have an abortion, and decided to give birth. child.

The theme of this movie does not discuss whether teenage pregnancy is correct or preaching; nor does it discuss whether abortion is correct or not, and it does not express any bias. This is one of the cleverness of "Juno". She chose to have an abortion, she can choose freely, which is in line with the taste of pro-abortionists who advocate "women have the right to choose"; but Juno did not do that, because she realized that the child in her womb was a life, and her conscience found that she canceled the abortion , which is also in line with the conservative standpoint of respect for life.

In the original version, one of the reasons why Juno changed her mind was that she met a Chinese classmate Su Qin at the entrance of the abortion clinic. Su Qin said, "The baby has already given birth to nails." Although Su Qin has no obvious accent, But her original lines have a few dry bits of humor, and she uses her deadpan to make Juno special.

Wang Yang didn’t do that, it’s a “bad habit” in the film industry, he won’t get angry if he makes jokes about ethnic minorities and Asians, he just laughs it off while watching; but it doesn’t mean he will “laugh at himself” to encourage this vices, and will not agree with the fixed images of Chinese-American supporting roles, "stiff nerd, overconfident guy who needs to be beat up, or straight clown with yin and yang."

Therefore, Su Qin's role was directly replaced by a white person, which will not have any impact on the film; and Juno said, "You should go to China. I heard that people there give babies like free d." Wang Yang deleted this line, he doesn't know what d is, and he doesn't know much about the survival of babies in China, but it's definitely just a joke, and it's not funny to him, it's just a bad habit. Besides, he doesn't want to be slapped in the face by his grandfather,

Then scolded "Xiao Yang, what did you shoot?"

These two places are just small changes. The real change lies in the change of the core theme and the difference in the focus of the story. The original "Juno" is naturally a very good story and movie, but what it wants to express and tell, and What he wants to express is different. Relying on these rich shooting materials, Wang Yang can let Margaret cut a 90-minute film of "Juno" with the same story and theme as the original version, which may be the same as it or even better than it; but That's not what he wanted, what he wanted was 120 minutes of Juno.

Will it succeed? Whatever it is, he just wants to make "the movie he wants to make", and the rest is the same sentence, make a good movie, do a good job of publicity, do a good job of his own work, and let the audience decide the rest.

However, with the passing of a year and one and a half months of filming, Wang Yang's ideas have changed a lot from the initial one. The script has been revised repeatedly, and "Juno" has several endings.

At the beginning, he wanted Juno and Paulie to raise the child together, but now there is no such thing as "reminiscing about daughters" at that time. After communicating with Kath and other real teenage mothers, he heard what she said, "men are all jerks. ", "Sometimes I feel very regretful and annoyed, I ruined my life", what about Juno? Although Pauly has matured and become less of a jerk, he and Juno do not have enough financial means after all, and it will be a kind of harm to them and their children.

So in one of the endings filmed by Wang Yang, the baby’s custody rights still belong to the adoptive mother Vanessa, but Juno and Paulie will not decide not to visit the child, and then pretend that nothing happened; Juno and Paulie will visit the child , From the beginning of her closed adoption, she didn't even want to get the baby's photos and dynamics; Looking at the child carefully, this is the change in her mentality. What she has learned from the pregnancy is not childish and evasive. She knows what responsibility is and what love is.

The same situation happened to Vanessa, from the ecstasy when Juno said closed adoption at the beginning, to the calmness and happiness at the end, she also had her own "pregnancy period", and she also learned something .

It was the baby that made them mature, Vanessa's, Juno and Paulie's. This ending is also Margaret's most preferred and appreciated one. As a middle-aged mother, she said, "It makes me feel very touched and warm." After multiple considerations, Wang Yang decided to choose this ending for the release version; other endings It will be included with the DVD release.

Post-production without special effects, besides editing, the most important part is the soundtrack of the film. The soundtrack style of "Juno" needs that kind of small country style, immature and lively youth, warm and natural, Wang Yang did not find Jann Kezmelik, Jann's style is not suitable for "Juno", he is A master of strings and piano, his soundtrack always has an atmosphere; but it is not "Juno", not guitar, harmonica and so on.

Wang Yang doesn't know many soundtrack artists, so he tentatively contacted David Lawrence. There is no doubt that the soundtrack of "High School Musical" is excellent and excellent, and the original soundtrack is even sold out, but it is an enthusiastic style. Can David Lawrence do the country style of "Juno"? After some interviews, Wang Yang got the answer in the soundtrack room, and David Lawrence also became the soundtrack composer of "Juno".

While Wang Yang was busy with the post-production of "Juno" every day, "High School Musical 2" was also gaining its own box office in North American cinemas. As early as August 4th, when it premiered in Los Angeles, it landed in 2,986 theaters in North America. Although the director was not Wang Yang, many fans expressed disappointment and expressed little interest; but Tom Welling The popularity of , Jessica, Rachel and others should not be underestimated, and they still attract a large number of fans, and the script was also written by Wang Yang, which gave fans a lot of confidence in this sequel.

In the week from August 4th to 10th, fans of singing and dancing flocked to the cinema. These young people brought "High School Musical 2" a box office of 36.4512 million in the first week, which made it the second place this week. , the first is the horror film "Transparent Demon", which was also released in the first week and cost 90 million yuan. It received 37.256 million US dollars. But in the second week, "High School Musical 2" ranked second with 25. "Transparent" only had a box office revenue of 18.31 million.

On Imdb, the score of "High School Musical 2" is only 5.8 points, and the "Los Angeles Times" commented on it: "This is a fairly satisfactory sequel. The story is not bad, but there are no surprises; and in terms of shooting techniques, Sarah - Sugarman endowed it with a bit of feminine delicacy, but lacked the confidence and aura of the previous film. Almost the only bright spot in the movie was the cameo of Miracle Yang, who acted well.” I am very interested in Wang Yang’s cameo, There are also a lot of gossip media, "Daily Entertainment" said: "Magic Young is very talented in acting, maybe he should direct and act on his own, just like Mel Gibson."

Seeing this piece of news, Wang Yang just shook his head with a smile. Just a few lines and a simple cameo scene with a deadpan face, he has NG countless times. Acting talent? Self-directed and acted? kill him

Although the ratings of the movie are not high, almost all the film critics say that it is quite satisfactory, but this is enough, relatively speaking, it can be quite satisfactory under the excellent previous work, in other words, it is good enough. From August 18th to 24th, "High School Musical 2" won the second place again, with a total box office of 78.4798 million. With this declining percentage, it will be difficult for it to break through 100 million at the North American box office. The overseas box office in the future, and according to the market characteristics of the first film, the overseas box office will be higher than the North American box office, so Flame Movie estimates that its global box office should be close to 200 million.

For a movie with a production cost of 30 million and a promotional cost of 20 million, a box office of 200 million means that it has made a lot of money, and the profit margin of the screening has reached 100%. Wait, "High School Musical 2" is definitely a money maker, and no matter which studio will be salivating.

Wang Yang participated in a meeting of Flame Films. About putting "High School Musical 3" on the agenda, the preliminary plan is still the original cast, starring Tom Welling, Jessica, Rachel, Zachary and others. Directed by Sarah Sugarman, it's also the final installment in the stories of Troy, Gabriela and others. Maybe the company will invest in the production of "High School Musical 4" and "High School Musical 5" in the future, but new scriptwriters will write brand new stories, and there will be no old faces anymore.

"Jessica, there is something I want to tell you." In the living room, Wang Yang, who was sitting on the sofa, patted the place beside him. Wearing a large white T-shirt, Jessica, who was tidying up the living room, turned her head to look at him, walked over and sat down and said, "What's the matter?" Wang Yang put his arms around her shoulders, and said, "The company has decided to produce "High School Musical". 3, it is scheduled to be released next summer."

"Well, I see." Jessica nodded with a smile. She had heard Wang Yang say it a long time ago, and it was expected. She looked into Wang Yang's eyes, and suddenly asked: "Yang, how about your new movie? Can I participate in the performance?" Wang Yang was stunned, and couldn't help laughing, saying: "Hey, sweetheart, my new movie The movie is "Juno" after you said "Juno", I don't have any ideas now, so I can't answer you." He smiled, kissed her forehead again, and said softly: "Jessie, don't worry, there will be Chance."

Jessica leaned against his body and said with a smile: "Well, then I will act in "High School Musical 3" first." She followed Wang Yang's advice a long time ago, not to take too many filming appointments casually, To avoid bad movies, acting career is not about the more you act, the better. The improvement of acting skills requires enough time to think and settle. One or two influential movies a year are enough. As a result, she has only two "High School Musical" works since she became famous.

"Jessie, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you." Wang Yang had a mysterious smile on his face. This matter should make her very happy, or? Looking at Jessica who smiled suspiciously, he said seriously: "I want to buy a house, and then we will live together." Jessica suddenly opened her mouth wide in surprise, her heartbeat accelerated suddenly, she sat up straight, stared wide Eyes said: "Oh my God, what do you mean..." Wang Yang nodded and said: "Yes, cohabitation. I know Catholicism does not allow it. This is just my idea. You don't like it, it's okay."

I thought it was... Jessica let out a laugh, she exhaled quietly, frowned and thought about it, and said, "We really love each other, and I believe that the merciful Lord will forgive us." As she spoke, she He drew a cross, closed his eyes and said reverently, "Thank you, Lord."

"Then we have to make a good plan." Hearing she agreed, when she finished praying, Wang Yang hugged her excitedly and said with a smile: "You know, that's our home in the future, we can't just let things go, you What kind of house do you like?" Jessica thought about it and said with a smile: "Well... I don't know, but I like a bigger one." Wang Yang looked at her wonderingly: "As big as Will Smith's house?"

"No, that's too big." Jessica shook her head with a smile, a flash of reminiscence flashed across her face, and said softly: "Yan, when we first moved to Los Angeles, we didn't live here. At that time we lived in another rich community, where there were big and big houses, big and big gardens, swimming pools...but not our house." She smiled slightly and said: "It is the smallest in the community. A house, a weird feeling, and my dad thought that was the best place to grow up."

Wang Yang listened silently, he had never heard of this story, but it must be a not-so-good memory. She added: "Back then, my dad was so busy that I couldn't see him a few times a day, my mom was working odd jobs, and those bad kids were yelling 'go back to Mexico' at me and Joshua..." She smiled again, and said firmly: "At that time, I told myself that I must earn a lot of money in the future, live in a big house, and let the whole family live happily."

"Jessica, leave the money to me. You are responsible for living in a big house and being happy." Wang Yang hugged her tightly, kissed her on the forehead, and said, "Understood?" Jessica smiled happily and said : "Well, but I also have a lot of money now, ha, all I earn is your money." Wang Yang said with a smile: "That's the audience's money. Come on, talk about being happy, and design our house." Jesse Ka nodded, thinking, and said sweetly: "I like those with big gardens, with many flowers..."

Seeing her happily snapping her fingers, Wang Yang smiled and thought boastfully, not all men are jerks.