Bab 257: Adapted Script
In fact, just before attending the Oscars, Levi's adaptation of the novel The Three-Body Problem had already begun.
According to Levi, the novel The Three-Body Problem is a good science fiction story in terms of depth and plot.
However, a big problem with this movie is that Liu is not very good at character portrayal, and he is good at writing big stories but not good at depicting small details.
These problems were also the first things Levi took into consideration when he got the novel version of The Three-Body Problem and wanted to adapt it into a script.
Compared with other movies, adapting this movie requires more effort - changing from a novel to a script is not easy.
The key lies in retaining the original thoughts and replacing the outer layer.
Fortunately, Liu Cixin didn't particularly care about other people's changes to his work, which also allowed Levi to start the adaptation with peace of mind.
First of all, what needs to be adapted from this novel is its structure. The model of this novel itself is actually not particularly suitable for filming. The first part of the novel focused on Wang Miao, but in the second part, Luo Ji replaced him, and in the third part, it became Cheng Xin.
Let's not mention the pros and cons of the protagonists for now. Writing a novel with the protagonist changing this way is fine. As a novel, it changes the perspective.
However, if it is made into a movie, the protagonist in the first part will become a supporting character in the second part. This will be very depressing.
If Levi made it into a trilogy with a different protagonist in each film, how could the audience accept it easily?
No one is aware of this problem now - because Liu has not started writing the second part, they have no way of knowing. However, Levi knew this very well. Therefore, if he adapted the novel into a screenplay, his first consideration would be to avoid this issue.
And how to adapt the movie script just right without affecting the original work and changing the protagonist? And can it be accepted by the author?
Levi thought about it and came up with only one solution.
Since he doesn't want the audience to have too much of a sense of involvement with the protagonist, the best way is to turn the scenes into group plays. The protagonist of the first part is no longer Wang Miao; instead, just make Wang Miao, Luo Ji, and Cheng Xin are all the protagonists.
After this change, it will be easier for the great historian to continue the story in the second part. Moreover, since Levi wants to make a science fiction film, the real protagonist is naturally all mankind, and there is no need to highlight one protagonist in a story about all humanity.
And how can he achieve this effect? Levi also thought of another work in his mind: a movie released in 2006, Crash.
The most outstanding thing about the movie Crash is its multi-linear structure. Things that seemed unrelated to each other were finally bonded together through various twists and turns. This kind of script is very good for expressing group scenes. The script of Crash was one of the main reasons it was able to defeat Brokeback Mountain for best picture in an upset.
But the method itself is just fresh, rather than having anything difficult to emulate. In fact, among the Oscar-winning films in the past 20 years, this film is also the one with the lowest evaluation by the media - compared with other films, it only has narrative innovation.
After Crash was filmed, the following year's movie, Babel, had almost the same style. However, because this mode is no longer new, although the quality of Babel is better than Crash, it still hasn't received much praise - this way of writing, one use is enough.
But now, it is far from 2006, and the script of this mode has not been used yet. And what Levi needs now is just a narrative innovation. Therefore, since Levi wanted some scripts, he naturally wanted to borrow this model.
In the first story of Luo Ji, the timeline should be that after Yang Dong committed suicide.
Luo Ji found Wang Miao and began to detect the ins and outs of the incident, thus finding out that it was Cheng Xin's problem. Then, Cheng Xin's memories revealed why she would betray humanity.
Then, humans thought of a way to capture the information about the Trisolarans and then learned everything.
Under tremendous pressure, Wang Miao and others wanted to give up, but Luo Ji encouraged them to have the courage to fight - the story of the first part ends here.
It can be said that this first part is just the beginning of this science fiction story. Moreover, although the story of this film is said to be science fiction, overall, it is more similar to a detective film. How to create suspense and how to reveal the mystery step by step is very important.
If we follow this clue, then it is a story with flashbacks mixed in with the main narrative. However, Levi made a change.
In his mind, it should be divided into three storylines: one is the line where the physicist plays the game and comes into contact with the three-body problem, the other is the line where the scientists who were exploring aliens continued to despair and finally betrayed humanity, and the other line where the police solve the case and come into contact with the truth in the process.
These three clues finally converge, and the answer will be gradually presented to the audience. This kind of multi-line narrative structure is also what Levi wants to try.
This was Levi's idea to connect three seemingly completely unrelated people using aliens.
This kind of shooting method is very suitable for showing group scenes, and what Levi wants is a large-scale science fiction story that needs to reflect the appearance of all living beings, so using this structure is the best, in his opinion.
As for saying that if he uses this structure, Crash may not win an Oscar in the future - what does this have to do with Levi?
In terms of structure, this is the biggest change.
And secondly, there are the changes to the characters.
If you want to write the three characters in this novel into the script, the first and most important thing is naturally to make them Americans - North America is still the largest audience, so you have to take into account what Americans think.
And if these three people become Americans, the story will naturally change. Wang Miao is easier to say. He is a scientist and studies nanotechnology. Basically, he does not have much background, so it is not difficult to change. Cheng Xin and Luo Ji both have some background. How to adapt their Aerospace engineer background and Vietnam War background is also a troublesome matter.
For Luo Ji, it is relatively simple. Just portray him as a policeman who once had a military background and participated in some military operations in the United States. In fact, this is simpler.
In the original work, it is said that Luo Ji participated in the Vietnam War, but it has been more than twenty years since that time, which is a bit long, and it is not easy to arrange the characters' ages.
But if it were an American, there wouldn't be this problem - the United States has been fighting wars for years, and it can definitely determine his age first and then help him arrange the background for a foreign war.
Moreover, Levi had another idea: in his memory, in the second part, Luo Ji's son once went to prison for committing a crime. Therefore, Levi simply changed the background of Luo Ji to a black man.
In this science fiction-themed story, Luo Ji is almost the only person who does not have much knowledge, nor is he too ambitious in revenge. He just relies on his own emotional intelligence to do things. Such a person is more suitable to be arranged as a black man.
After all, if the film were to be made, Levi would have wanted to reflect the fate of all humanity. If there are white people and yellow people in this story, but in the end, there are no black people who can occupy the role, then the story is not comprehensive enough.
Levi didn't want black people only to be able to do jobs like operator, which made science fiction fans complain that black people were discriminated against even in the Star Trek universe.
Therefore, his idea was to make Luo Ji a very important character, and Black identity emerged.
When the earth is facing a crisis, all races will step forward - since we are filming human stories, we should not have a narrow-minded racial discrimination mentality.
The most difficult one to adapt to is Cheng Xin. After all, her background involves political events. Moreover, Levi also believes that Liu's works are arranged in this way to illustrate the disasters that politics, a matter of human intrigue and intrigue, brings to humanity.
If he were to adapt Cheng Xin into a person who was abused as a child and suffered psychological trauma, this background would be too weakened, and a layer of meaning would be ignored.
This adaptation is a bit troublesome - but it's not completely impossible. Because in the United States, after all, there was also a McCarthy era. Americans, especially Hollywood, a leftist concentration camp, were also complaining at that time. It was enough to apply her background to that era and change the story.
However, if it is adapted in this way, how should the age of the characters be determined, how should the script be written so that it can be sure to be accurate, and if the time is set in the past era, how to prepare costumes, props, and other factors?
Who should be chosen to act in the movie so that the characteristics of the characters can be portrayed? These issues all need to be considered.
Moreover, in addition to the several protagonists, there are also some issues that need attention.
For example, how to shoot the part of the movie that involves the Panama Canal and the cutting of the ship is a big deal; if the parts of the story that travel in the play are shot for the world to see, then it is best to be more international.
Choosing these stories can not affect the grandeur of the story itself but also make people accept it; in the novel, Liu never described the appearance of the three-body people.
From the beginning to the end, the three-body people are just a concept, so how should he take shots so that they don't become clichéd and don't show their appearance positively?
These questions are all worth thinking about.
A few years ago, Levi would not have dared to change these things easily. After all, he had no experience at that time. However, after such a long period of training, he is now more experienced, and the screenwriting team is top-notch in Hollywood.
With such good conditions, what reason is there for not writing a good story?
In Levi's opinion, the writing of this movie script will definitely be successful. With Levi's current power, as long as he is willing to do whatever it takes, is there anything he can't succeed at?
*****
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