The Best Director

Chapter 172 Who is Jeff-Ma! ?

In the elegant and quiet coffee shop, looking at the two black-haired Asian men talking at the table not far away, Anderson felt very disappointed, and didn't want to waste film to sneak a photo. It was not easy for him to welcome this opportunity. This time, he came here to follow Magic Yang exclusively. Why didn't this great director meet some girl? why an asian man

Even if that guy is Miraculous Yang's relatives and friends, such photos are almost worthless, and they can only be sold for one or two hundred yuan at most, and they almost can't get back the cost. But it would be great to meet some girl other than Jessica and have some intimacy

Anderson couldn't help showing a smile when he thought about it, but he still quietly pressed the camera and took a few photos. One hundred yuan is better than zero. The competition in the paparazzi industry is too fierce. Britney Spears has more than 30 and 40 peers who follow her all the year round. The popular magical director Wang Yang.

Normally, he doesn’t have a movie that is in hot theaters. It’s okay. There are less than five competitors who follow him all the year round; but when his movie is released, his competitors will suddenly rise sharply. "The Ninth District", his popularity is soaring and soaring, and the number of competitors is also the same. Now that he has reached the peak of 15-20 people, the number of photos has increased several times, and the value has also dropped several times.

On the other hand, because he lives with Jessica, who is also very popular, nearly 10 people in the industry circle around their home every day, squatting in the public area in front of the door, and scrambling for their trash cans, trash Heap of garbage. Two days ago, Anderson had a fight with others over a piece of crumpled paper, which resulted in two stitches in his jaw.

There are some messy and weird pictures on that paper painting, maybe they were drawn by hand, maybe they were shot by the director; this kind of thing is rare, what they usually get is paper that has been shredded by a paper shredder, and it is rare to have such A paper ball. And the real value of that piece of paper is that it is full of scribbled girls' names Amanda, Alva, Caroline, Erica, Jessica, Kate, Mathilde...

Who are they? Who are the other girls besides Jessica? Although they didn't know what the piece of paper meant, they all felt that they were close to an amazing secret, and that piece of paper might be worth a lot.

I just didn't expect this black-haired Asian man to come. Anderson sighed in disappointment, how can he stand out in this industry?

"What I miss the most is not playing blackjack at the table and making a lot of money."

Beside the clean round table, Ma Kaiwen took a sip of the coffee cup slowly, a flash of reminiscence flashed in his single-lidded eyes, looked at Wang Yang opposite, and said: "What I miss most is the feeling and life of struggling together,

It's been a great time to be part of a team where everyone is moving toward the same goal with determination, and there's a lot of loyalty and camaraderie to each other. "

Wang Yang nodded with a smile, and suddenly remembered the life of filming "Ghost Story" at that time. He was the director for the first time, Rachel was the heroine for the first time, Zachary was the actor for the first time, Jesse Ka and Joshua will also come to help, although sometimes it is not helpful, determination, happiness, indomitable... is that feeling that Jeff Ma misses?

"So you don't have conflicts?" He smiled and asked Ma Kaiwen, "Didn't you quarrel over who is the big player and who is the card counter? For example, someone is not convinced, and then they don't obey discipline or something?"

He contacted Ben Mozrich very early, discussed and finalized the play many times; but he only contacted Jeff Ma for an interview in recent days. Because he does not want the temperament and image of the character "Jeff Ma" to be too much influenced by real people before the character is set, thus limiting the personal charm of "Jeff Ma" on the big screen. This is not a biographical movie like "When Happiness Knocks on the Door", this is a drama about the T21 point group.

Now that he has felt that he is slowly taking control of the story and the protagonists, he can start to fill in some details.

"No, no, no, these problems haven't happened." Ma Kaiwen laughed haha, narrowed his eyes, and said, "We are all selfless and smart people. We know which situation is best for us, and then we will Execute it like a tight machine, otherwise you can't win blackjack."

He clasped his right hand, rubbed his thumb and index finger together quickly against his ear, and said, "Card counting is a very team game, just like any team sport." He shrugged again , said: "Actually, card counting can only increase the chance of winning by 3% in theory, but this 3% is enough to make a big difference, so why do we need big players? We are very lucky to catch that 3%. But you want To win, you need a proven championship team."

"Well, loyalty, friendship, team..." Wang Yang nodded understandingly, noticing that his little gesture just now seemed to be interesting, so he rubbed his fingers a few times and asked, "Is this a gesture? What does it mean? "

Ma Kaiwen smiled honestly, rubbed his fingers and said, "Yes, this is one of the gestures used by the card counter to tell big players that they can enter the game." Wang Yang asked doubtfully, "Are there many gestures with the same meaning?" Ma Kaiwen He laughed and said of course, then made several gestures in a row, patted the back of his head, and twisted his left hand as if he was tired... He explained: "If you use the same signal all day long, then immediately will be caught."

He took off his glasses again, and said with a smile: "We also use props, such as taking off the glasses to wipe them, taking out a handkerchief to wipe sweat... These gestures are all changing, sometimes representing the last week and the next week. The meanings will be different." Seeing Wang Yang feeling very emotional, he twirled his fingers to his temples, and said with a smile: "We are all very easy to use here, even if there are a hundred gestures, we can clearly distinguish them."

Hearing what he said, Wang Yang couldn't help laughing immediately. He thought that the reason why "Decisive Blackjack" felt lame was because of this, right? In it, there is always only one gesture for the card counter to notify the big players to enter the game, and they pull their hands behind their backs. The gesture is too big and not cool. Maybe its original intention is to make it easy for the audience to remember, and at the same time it is convenient to shoot big actions; but the problem is that it also loses the sense of reality and high IQ.

The reality is so cool, these are also the small details of the T team, the casino, and the detectives. Why aren't they recognized and caught? In addition to disguise, gesture changes in the monitor are also important reasons. And in "Decisive Blackjack", the reason why the casino security boss caught them was precisely because he recognized that crappy gesture.

"OK Jeff, I understand. Our art director will design some cool gestures and code words." Wang Yang smiled and took a sip from his coffee cup. When he mentioned the code words, he thought of something. Have you ever thought that you can speak fast? In the movie, you can speak very fast. You know your nickname is 'Intel chip', the calculation speed is very fast and precise, smart... All these have to be shown on the outside, And speed of speech and responsiveness are good options."

Ma Kaiwen nodded in agreement, and said, "Of course, I don't know how to make movies, but I can trust myself to Miracle Yang, haha." He narrowed his eyes again with a smile, and said with his eyebrows upside down, "But in fact, I You don't speak very quickly."

"Then why did you join this 21 o'clock group? What was your mentality at the time?" Wang Yang asked another question, which is quite crucial. If the male protagonist has no scholarship pressure, why did he join? What is the whole story for? He thought for a while and added, "What kind of mentality are you all in?"

"Mentality?" Kaiwen Ma frowned, recalling the situation back then, and said with a smile, "I'm interested. At first I joined just for fun and to test my ability. I heard them say 'this is difficult' , and I was like 'What's the big deal, I can do this.'”

With a rather proud expression on his face, he continued; "Then I fell in love with this team; then we started winning money, hundreds of thousands a night, which was really exciting and let us continue. Why not? This is what we are good at, it’s just a job.” He smiled happily and said: “This has changed our lives, we can use our skills to win money, and then use the money to achieve our wishes.”

"Like the TRADE I'm running now, you can trade players as virtual stocks. Their strength is the stock price. What could be more interesting than that?" Ma Kaiwen laughed boastfully, took a sip of coffee, and laughed again: "Jan , This is my dream job, you know I love the NBA, I watch games every day." Wang Yang immediately covered his forehead and sighed: "Oh, it's a pity that Yao Ming can't go to our Bay Area."

Ma Kaiwen also nodded in sympathy when he heard the words, and said excitedly: "According to my data analysis, Yao Ming can definitely play, and maybe he can become a superstar." In addition to running a sports website, he is also a senior data analyst. Expert, as a consultant including NBA Portland Trail Blazers and NFL San Francisco 49ers. (In the NBA draft in 2007, he strongly suggested that the Trail Blazers, holding the No. Oden the Great, which every team would have picked. The Blazers ended badly."

"My analysis is also the same." Wang Yangha smiled, and already had a general idea in his heart. The movie should be based on a game-based mentality. Jeff Ma is interested and stimulated by the big sister's big words; For money, but for playing money. If you ask them "Why?", they'll say "Because we can."

The film should be cool and not preachy, but still have a correct mainstream value. So there must be a premise that there is no crime in the whole story, so that the T team can end their careers gracefully, and the audience will accept it; at the same time, no matter what mentality is good, they still have to say "Go back to normal life."

Speaking of the topic of mentality, Ma Kaiwen seems to have thought of this aspect, saying: "We have always emphasized that card counting is not illegal, it is just an annoying behavior for casinos. Casinos are not God, and they have no right to follow the law as a matter of course. People get money out of their hands; we can get their money back”

"Wow, that's a good line." Wang Yang nodded his temples with a smile, and said with a smile, "I wrote it down." Ma Kaiwen nodded and smiled, and said seriously: "Although everyone can learn card counting, I sincerely hope that my The story is not about letting people drop out of school to play blackjack. I promised Ben to adapt it into a novel. I just want to tell people that you can break the casino and you can do everything. But card counting is just a means to achieve your wishes. Don't waste your own Life."

"Jeff, don't worry. I will shoot you so well that the audience thinks that is something only smart people can do." Wang Yang smiled and said, "And smart people don't choose to drop out of school to play 21 Order." But he thinks that after this movie comes out, there will definitely be people who scold: "Do you know your influence among teenagers? You are teaching children to gamble."

Ma Kaiwen then asked a question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time, saying: "What ethnicity actor will play me?" In fact, he has no influence on who will play him or what the content of the movie will be. The publication of Ben Mozrich's book has made him a "public figure". Anyone who wants to film his biography and stories does not need his consent, and he naturally has no right to speak.

"Of course it's Chinese, of course Wang Yang smiled without thinking, and clenched his fist: "Jeff, the Intel chip will only be Chinese. Ma Kaiwen immediately smiled happily, and said excitedly: "Cool, that's really cool. I don't want to see a Korean or Japanese play me, that's too ridiculous." "

"This kind of thing won't happen." Wang Yang took out a script from the backpack next to the chair, and suddenly found a familiar white man sitting not far away, with a shaved head and a big nose... He It's the paparazzi but that's okay. Wang Yang handed the script to Ma Kaiwen and said with a smile: "This is the script, Jeff, I need to provide some more details. Although I have watched "The Fall of Las Vegas" many times, you can tell me about it yourself The card counting stuff?"

Naturally, he wasn't worried that Ma Kaiwen would leak the script or anything, and he didn't need to worry about it; and before the meeting, Ma Kaiwen readily agreed to serve as a consultant and guide for the crew, and the real "God of Gamblers" would also be needed to participate in the promotional stage in the future.

"Okay." Ma Kaiwen took the script and flipped through it. In addition to the story content, there were also some professional knowledge of card counting, etc. He read it for a while, and pointed out a detail that needed to be filled in, "Senior celebrities at blackjack", Said: "Here, in fact, we have a 21 Hall of Fame jHf-Fame), the first member is the pioneer of our card counter, now 60-year-old Stanford-Wang."

Seeing Wang Yang's stunned look, he shook his head and smiled, "No, he's not Chinese. That's his stage name. His real name is John Ferguson. He's a Stanford graduate, and he thinks 'Wang' is very imposing. Stanford is Especially interested in Chinese culture, you know his publishing house is called '-Yee (Pai Yi)'. There is also Edward Thorpe in LA, Bill Kaplan in Harvard..."

"Why didn't I know that 'Wang' is very imposing?" Wang Yang laughed after he finished speaking a long list of names, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I think 'Ge' is very imposing."

Ma Kaiwen immediately laughed, continued to read the script, and said: "There are many different card counting methods used by card counters. What you wrote here is the most popular high-low method (gh-L, That is, 2-6 is counted as +1 point, 7-9 is counted as 0 point, 10 and flower cards are counted as -1 point, and if there is +7 point on the gaming table, it has already been shot; besides using this, I will also use it to count 10 at the same time Method (10u, is to calculate how many 10-point cards (including JQK) are left on the table. Under normal circumstances, it is 413, and the dealer has an advantage; but if the ratio of 10 reaches 13, you can play with him... ..."

Using two card counting methods in your mind at the same time? Wang Yang couldn't help feeling a little bit emotional, it's cool, no wonder he is called an Intel chip, no wonder he can make a qualitative change in Team T While listening to Ma Kaiwen's explanation, Wang Yang took out a pen and recorded these key words in a notebook, such cool and professional details , why can't I see it in "Decisive Blackjack"?

As night falls, the watery moonlight shrouds the City of Angels, and Beverly Hills is still luxurious or warm and peaceful.

After chatting with Ma Kaiwen for almost a day, Wang Yang returned home contentedly. This day's harvest was very rich. He used to discuss with Ben Mozrich about the structure of the big story, the content of the scene, etc.; and Ma Kaiwen provided It is a professional detail. After discussion, many lines and details will be filled or slightly changed, which will become very "flavorful" or "temperament".

He understands that when many things are professional and esoteric, the audience can't understand them, but they will find them cooler. But there is a difference of "a slight difference, a thousand miles away". It is not to make them confused, or half understand; the thing to do is to establish an impression and atmosphere in their minds, Make them feel "wow, that's definitely the case, professional"

Then they still don't understand it, so they will look up the information instead, and they will never forget this movie. Of course, some card counting principles require them to understand roughly, so that Jeff Ma and others will use it super powerfully at the gaming table, and the audience will feel excited.

"Who is Jeff Ma? Who is Jeff Ma?" Wang Yang hummed an unknown tune, sat down on the sofa in the living room, and opened his notes. After meeting the real Jeff Ma, he already has a solid image of the character. Jeff is definitely a competitive, talkative, and proud "social" Chinese; there is nothing modest, introverted, or shy.

Now we can officially start looking for role candidates, but in this place where opportunities are lacking, outstanding Chinese actors are even more difficult to see than giant pandas. At least San Diego has Gao Gao and Bai Yun, and it is only a 3-hour drive from Los Angeles.

Wang Yang leaned on the sofa and clicked on the webpage, thinking of Justin Lin's "Hot Mochi". This independent film with an investment of 1 million has already been filmed and edited, and all production is completed. Now Justin Lin leads a group of leading actors Participating in film festivals everywhere, the response from the critics is very good, and FM company is already arranging small-scale trial screenings in Asian communities and campuses for it.

The male lead of "Hot Mochi" is played by New York-based Chinese actor Perry Shen. Although he is 30 years old, he has a Chinese-American style of tenderness and can play a college student. But Wang Yang eliminated him very early. Firstly, it was because of his lack of acting skills. Second, Perry’s small eyes did not meet his requirements. Small eyes should not be a label image of Asians. Korean eyes are generally pretty. Small, but not Chinese. Anyway, his eyes are big.

"Who is Ma Kaiwen? Who is Ma Kaiwen?" Wang Yang hummed again in Chinese, browsing the screen, looking at the Hong Kong and Taiwan Chinese male stars. There seem to be so few actors in Hong Kong who come and go, good looks and good acting skills must have become famous, so it is actually not difficult to find information and pictures of those young candidates, both of which are in the first round Audition, after passing the formal contact interview, to see if the acting and suitability.

Edison-Chen? 22 years old, Canadian, grew up in Vancouver...Wang Yang looked at the pictures on the screen for a few moments, then shook his head and closed this page. Edison-Chen's face is full of ruffian, which is very suitable for playing the underworld in Hong Kong movies. But it is not suitable for high-achieving students with heroic spirit. How many more did he browse, Shawn Yue? Still too pissed off; Nicholas-Xie? The appearance is not mature enough, it seems that the height is also a bit short; Gu Tianle? The appearance and temperament are good, but growing up in Hong Kong, I don’t have a deep understanding of the culture here, so it is not a good choice.

"F4? What is it? "Fantastic Four"?" Wang Yang muttered suspiciously, as if he had heard of it on some website before. He clicked on the information of this group and looked it up, it turned out that it meant 4 flowers, Vanness Wu? Chinese-American, received theater training in Hollywood, but his eyes are too small; Zhu Xiaotian? Quite suitable for the simple and honest temperament of the real Jeff Ma, but this is the big screen; Yan Chengxu, Zhou Yumin? The two boys were handsome, with his stature and appearance.

Wang Yang laughed and clicked Close, because none of them could speak English, no matter how good their acting skills were. He randomly opened the profile of another person, Daniel Wu, Daniel Wu, born in 1974, 28 years old. He then looked at a few photos and information of Wu Yanzu, his eyes lit up, and he muttered: "Dude, maybe it's you?"

Wu Yanzu was born in San Francisco, grew up in San Francisco, graduated from the Department of Architecture of the University of Oregon, and returned to Hong Kong in 1997 to develop without considering any issues of accent, cultural differences, and market recognition. His figure is tall and tough, his appearance is also handsome enough, and he has a good temperament; there are a few photos with a satisfying touch of evil, it seems that all the conditions are very suitable. Here it is said that he started practicing martial arts at the age of 11...

"What kind of kung fu did you learn?" When Wang Yang saw this sentence of learning kung fu and boxing since he was a child, he suddenly felt a desire to fight. He hadn't fought against an opponent of the same level for a long time. As bad as not having sex in three years. He looked left and right at these pictures of Wu Yanzu, the blood of wanting to fight kept rolling, and the more he looked, the more he felt that this guy was really good.

Wang Yang hummed, then picked up the mobile phone on the coffee table, dialed a number, and said: "Help me call CAA to contact Daniel Wu, yes, he is developing in Hong Kong now. Just ask him if he is interested in joining me. A movie audition, male lead. OK bye." Putting down his phone, he went on to browse other male stars, Takeshi Kaneshiro? Ryukyu and Chinese are mixed, but what he wants is pure Chinese; Wang Leehom, who grew up in the United States, has a good appearance and temperament, but he is a singer...

After searching for a long time and almost searching all the well-known male stars of the right age, Wang Yang did not find another "very suitable" candidate. He closed all the websites with a sigh of relief, hoping that Wu Yanzu's acting performance can also be suitable, otherwise It is necessary to lower the standard and become a fisherman. He clenched his fists and waved a few times, gritted his teeth and said, "Daniel, I can't wait to have a fight with you."

At this time, Danny ran over happily panting with his big tongue out, Wang Yang froze for a moment, and said with a smile: "Hey, buddy, I'm calling Daniel, not you." He touched its head and laughed softly. Said: "Your mother will come back very late, maybe she won't, she's going to have a girls' night with Irene, Roland and the others. Oh my god, we're left alone, huh..."

He patted Danny vigorously with a smile, drove it away and said, "Go and play by yourself, I still have to work." He picked up the script on the table and flipped through it, and then gradually fell into thinking about another problem.

Now the actor has a good whereabouts, but who will play the other heroine in the movie, detective Beverly Griffin? This female detective is smart, stubborn, and never gives up. Although she was played around by Jeff Ma and the others, she was the one who finally sent Team T to the blacklist. It is hard to say who is the winner in this game of cat and mouse. .

"Casinos don't make money for granted; we just make money from them in a legal way. You help a casino and you help an evil tyrant." If someone told her that, she would say, "I'm not interested in casinos, I Interested in grabbing you guys." She has her charisma, not a dumb foil for T-team et al. If the opponent is too bad, the audience will not be excited about how to tease her.

In reality, Beverly Griffin is an aging smart old lady, but also on the big screen she can't be like that, she has to be young. And there are two options, one is a mature woman; the other is a talented female detective who is about the same age as Jeff Ma and others, and staged a good show of genius VS genius.

Wang Yang touched his chin and quickly analyzed it, and found that he still prefers the second option, but in this way, the requirements for actors are suddenly raised, and the acting skills need not be said, the more important thing is to have that With temperament and persuasiveness, not everyone can call herself a genius female detective on the big screen. So among the actress friends he knows, is there anyone who is suitable?

Jessica? He shook his head, her temperament was not right, and her acting skills were not enough. In the same situation, Anne Darren, Scarlett Johansson, Michelle Rodriguez...all don't have that temperament. But Zooey Deschanel, Anne Hathaway, and... He blinked, and a vague image of the girl making an evil expression during the filming of "Ghost Story" appeared in front of him.

"Rachel...Rachel McAdams, Rachel-Anne McAdams..."