Capítulo 166: Chapter 166 - From Egypt to China
With Lin Mingyang's encouragement, Klin decided to have another good talk with his father. They walked and chatted, and when they reached the door of the dormitory, Lin Mingyang's cell phone rang.
The hallways of Kirkland's dormitory were not only narrow and dim, but also had a strong shielding effect on cell phone signals. People who answered their phones in the hallway were often met with "What did you say?" "Hello?" "Can you speak louder?" and so on. In order to secure the call, Lin Mingyang signaled Klin to go up first, and he stood downstairs to answer the call.
"You've been laying low lately, haven't you?" Ecks' lazy voice came from the cell phone, "I don't see any more of your flamboyant news in the papers, it's a bit uncomfortable!"
"You called just to talk to me about this?" After spending a long time in the library, Lin Ming Yang's temper had become much more "gentle".
"As your manager, is it wrong for me to make a phone call to greet you?" Ecks said in a feigned aggravated manner.
Unfortunately, Lin Ming Yang didn't eat his words, "Don't give me this useless crap, just tell me what's going on!"
"Hehe, I knew you guys would say that!" Ecks and Lin Ming Yang knew each other well, he didn't sell himself short anymore, "Are you free these days?"
"You know I'm about to take my exams."
"I know you don't have that much time, but this time you're not being asked to act, I think you should be able to squeeze out time to conceptualize a script while you're studying, which is your forte. The requirements for scripts over there are pretty loose and there's no definite time limit, so even if you start writing after you've finished taking care of the exams in school, I reckon it's still not too late." Ecks already had a little plan in mind, "How about it, think about it?"
The most difficult request in the world was "whatever", no request meant no direction, which was tantamount to rewriting. Eckles spoke easily, but Lin Ming Yang looked cautious as he considered it, "Genre, subject matter, doesn't the other party have any requirements?"
"Of course not!" Ecks was holding a memo of the contents of yesterday's phone call, "Universal wants to ask you to write a sequel to their Mummy movie series..."
"The Mummy again?" As soon as he heard this word, Lin Ming Yang felt a bit headstrong.
"Could it be that you've been working on this recently as well?" After thinking about it, Ecks felt that this statement of his seemed a bit untenable, Lin Ming Yang majored in psychology, and mummies seemed to involve knowledge of archaeology.
"The first two episodes of The Mummy have already turned the Egyptian pharaohs' tombs upside down, what's left to write about for a sequel?"
"Seeing other studios using sequel movies to make a killing, Universal Pictures is naturally not willing to be left behind!" Ecks laughed on the phone, "If I had such a money tree in my hands, I would definitely spare no effort in draining his value as well!"
"That's why you'll always be just a qualified businessman, not a qualified filmmaker!" Lin Mingyang sighed softly. Although Ecks' words were cheesy, the reasoning clicked through.In the summer of 1999, almost everyone's attention was focused on George Lucas, because the first thing this dinosaur director did in his comeback was to bring a brand new Star Wars prequel to every hardcore Star Wars fan. At the time, no one was even paying attention to director and writer Stephen Sommers and his remake of the 70's classic of the same name, The Mummy.
Yet it was this adventure film with a second-tier director and a second-tier cast that went on to collect $400 million under the watchful eye of Star Wars and ranked as the 31st highest-grossing film of all time in global cinema. Sommers knew exactly what the audience wanted to see, so with a limited budget, Sommers gave up too much focus on the characters and put the emphasis on special effects and action scenes. In addition to using a large number of special effects, Sommers also stole a few tricks from Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark-style funny bridge makes the film relaxed, quite a bit of new school Indiana Jones flavor. In the movie, the mummy casts a spell and starts a sandstorm that swallows a biplane, which is regarded by movie enthusiasts as a fine example of a pilot.
In response to the success of the film, backstage bosses Universal Pictures reacted "quickly", announcing the following week that a sequel would be released, with production costs soaring to $100 million and Sommers continuing as director. Brendan Fraser, who rose to fame in Tomb Raider, also signed on to play explorer Rick O'Connell for twice as much as he was paid for the first installment.
Brendan's cynical disguise is very much some of the audience, "Tomb Raider" after the release of many fans recommended Brendan to replace Brosnan, the new James Bond, although ultimately did not become a reality, but the film made Brendan Fraser among the first-class Hollywood movie star is an indisputable fact.
After two years, the success of "The Mummy Returns" once again set off a "Egyptian adventure fever", the same type of subject matter of the film sprung up, the quality of the film varies, the evaluation of the good and the bad, in the commercial interests of the driving force, the subject matter was ultimately made by Hollywood movie makers to a vulgar degree, which is also the Universal Pictures in "The Mummy", "The Mummy", "The Mummy", "The Mummy", "The Mummy", "The Mummy", "The Mummy", "The Mummy" and "The Mummy". Pictures was a major reason why the Mummy series petered out at a time when it was in the ascendancy.
With the bursting of the network industry bubble in '02, the entire U.S. economy has been affected, and the competition between the major Hollywood film makers has become increasingly fierce, the production cost of the film is rising, this trend in the stimulation of the development of the film industry at the same time also bought the root of the crisis. Because the investment is too large, the failure of a movie may put a company into a situation of doom; of course, the success of a movie may also have the effect of bringing back the dead, both of which have been staged at the same time in the MGM company.
At the same time as the form of competition has changed, the landscape of Hollywood has also undergone a sea change: with the support of the Viacom Group, Paramount acquired DreamWorks for $1 billion, and its strength has increased greatly; Warner has the strong support of the Murdoch News Corporation, and has the ace in the hole of Harry Potter, which has been a frequent hit this year, and its production handiwork has become increasingly large; Sony Pictures is backed by the mighty and airy Sony Corporation, and Marvel Comics cooperation with the "Spider-Man" series as a typical representative, a time of the wind; Disney in the acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios, dominated the animated film market, and now rubbing their fists to set their sights on the adult film market, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series is a successful pathfinder.
Hollywood's famous eight giant, MGM has fallen, the remaining 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures performance is flat. In contrast, Universal Pictures is a bit more unlucky. In this year's DreamWorks acquisition battle, public opinion was almost universally favorable to NBC Universal, believing that the famous entertainment group under General Electric was the best buyer for DreamWorks. But after a fierce battle, Paramount Pictures beat NBCUniversal at the "last minute" to finalize a purchase agreement with DreamWorks at a price of about 1 billion U.S. dollars, which is like an "accidental" ending of a Hollywood blockbuster.
That's not the only bad news, as Universal's joint venture distribution company, United International Pictures, was recently dismantled, and the company's original overseas distribution strengths have been lost. In the midst of such internal and external difficulties, Universal was in desperate need of a successful movie to regain its momentum, and a sequel to The Mummy, which had been on the back burner for several years, was put back on the company's agenda.
After four years of silence, the mummy theme of the film has slowly faded in Hollywood, the launch of the sequel to the external conditions have been ripe, but the biggest problem in the Universal company is, what should be shot in the sequel?
To toss the Egyptian pharaoh and his mummy, the first two episodes of the film has shot these things to the extreme, and then want to shoot what new ideas is almost impossible. Just when Universal was at a loss, someone suggested keeping the film's tomb raiding theme intact and changing the setting. This idea brightened the eyes of Universal's executives, and their thinking immediately broadened.
Egypt is only one of the four major ancient civilizations. Since mummies can arouse people's interest, are there other ancient civilizations that can be explored as well? Following this line of thinking, Universal first thought of ancient Babylon, but not much remains of this ancient civilization, and there are few clues with filming value. And now the Two Rivers . Hollywood has always been respectful.
Then they bet on ancient India, but the ancient Indian civilization local color and religious color is too strong, it is expected that the audience in other countries will not buy it, so another one is ruled out.
In the end, it was left to China, which has a long history of unbroken cultural heritage among the four major ancient civilizations. With the rise of China's economy, more and more Americans are interested in China, but for most Americans, their impression of China's ancient culture remains in the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors and these superficial things, but not its essence.
Setting the sequel in China was a perfect fit for Universal's original vision. After determining the general idea of the movie, Universal wanted to find a screenwriter familiar with China to write the sequel script. Combining various factors, Lin Mingyang would be the most suitable candidate in Universal's eyes.
"After digging up the pyramids of the Egyptian pharaohs, they're ready to toss the ancestors of the Chinese again?" Lin Ming Yang made a cold sarcastic remark, in his memory, the Mummy movie series did come out with a sequel related to China, but the quality of that movie, he didn't want to comment more.
Lin Mingyang's temperament Ecks knew very well, he laughed noncommittally over the phone, "In any case, I think you can still get in touch with their people first."
----
Lin Ming Yang finally accepted Ecks' suggestion, Universal was very efficient, the day after they received the reply, their representative arrived in Boston, the location of the appointed meeting point was still the same cafe that Lin Ming Yang often went to.
The one who rushed over to meet with Lin Mingyang was a producer from Universal, a middle-aged man named Buffy who looked like a man of honor, his twinkling eyes revealing his wit and flexibility. His shoulders were broad, his physique was as robust as an aspen tree, his snow-white skin, brown beard and hair shone like gold in the sunlight.
Unlike the other party's serious and rigorous attitude, Lin Mingyang appeared casual throughout as he stirred the small spoon in his coffee cup and said carelessly, "Mr. Buffy tell us specifically about your requirements for the script!"
Lin Mingyang's behavior made Buffy a little uncertain, the purpose of his trip was that he had to convince Lin Mingyang, but this current situation made his mind a little uneasy. He cautiously organized his wording and then spoke, "We're going to set the third episode of The Mummy in China, considering the time period to be interconnected with the first two, with the first part of the film taking place in 1925 and the second in 1933. Our initial idea is to set the script story in the 1940s."
"In that era, half of China was occupied by the Japanese, and in a time of war, the protagonist runs away to China to do archeology, don't you think that's absurd?" Lin Mingyang pointed out the fallacy of this setting without mercy.
"This... "Buffy was a little nervous as she pulled out a tissue and wiped the beads of sweat on her forehead, they did miss this point when they were considering it in the first place.
"If you're still going to use Brendan Fraser in the lead role, and you want to make the sequel movie slightly more historically logical, the chronological setting would be better placed in the 1930s, and before Japan launches a full-scale attack on China."
"Only four years..." said Buffy, doing some mental math, "Isn't that a little too soon?"
"This is just a bit of my personal suggestion, just for reference!" Lin Mingyang's stance of being unconcerned made Buffy start to sit up a bit, he hastily nodded his head, "I think that's a good suggestion, the time will be set according to what you said!"
"What about the other aspects?" Lin Ming Yang still had a noncommittal expression on his face, "For example, the theme of the movie's archaeological adventure, there are no mummies in China!"
"But they have terracotta warriors!" As soon as this topic was mentioned, Buffy's eyes immediately lit up, "There's a very famous director in China called Zhang Yimou, I've seen a movie he acted in when he was young called 'Ancient and Modern Versus the Terracotta Warriors', and the movie's female lead is now a big star, Gong Li, and they seem to have been good partners in the past. This movie involves some concepts of past lives in Buddhism, I didn't read too much about it, but I know that the Terracotta Warriors came back to life at the end!"
He gesticulated excitedly, "Although ancient Egyptian culture and Chinese culture are very different, I feel that the Terracotta Warriors are the Chinese mummies, both are equally unbelievable in production, and both are full of mysterious colors, which is perfect for the theme of the film's excavation!"
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