Capítulo 186: Chapter 186: Comic Adaptation Rights
After discussing with Bill Roscius at the Death Star Building for a while, Murphy asked him to contact photographers like Phil LaChapelle and others, and to find a relatively cheaper special effects production company, then left Century City for Burbank's Miramax division. Harvey Weinstein had just arrived from New York today, and Murphy was here to meet this Jewish bigshot.
"So, decided on the new project?" Weinstein joked.
"Harvey, remember the call I made to you a while back?"
Sitting across from Harvey Weinstein, Murphy looked at him, "That comic, that's my target!"
"You mean…" Weinstein immediately recalled, "Dark Horse Comics is tough!"
He asked, "Murphy, why choose it? Your previous three movies were all from your scripts…"
Adaptations often mean a hefty copyright fee, and Weinstein naturally wanted to spend as little as possible for the greatest profit.
"Because this comic boldly uses black and white creation, its strokes are chaotic yet orderly, emphasizing the contrast of light and shadow, creating a unique noir style, and breaking the reader's preference for color comics."
After explaining, Murphy spread his hands, adding, "It also has a unique black and white image, strong cinematic scenes, and traditional sculpture painting style, significantly influencing the American comic world!"
To convince Weinstein, Murphy continued, "More importantly, it has a large loyal fan base in North America, all potential moviegoers!"
Weinstein was somewhat familiar with the comic and knew Murphy's claims were true, but it wasn't that simple.
"Murphy, let's not talk about investment and returns, nor scripts and plans," he looked at Murphy, "You're not the first in Hollywood to eye this comic, and Miramax isn't the first company, but all were rejected!"
Since choosing this comic for the new project, Murphy had done his homework, nodding slightly.
"Horror Planet" brought substantial profits to Miramax, and Weinstein now highly regarded the young director, patiently saying, "Even if we can settle things with Dark Horse Comics, what can we offer to convince Frank Miller, this stubborn old man?"
"I'll talk to Frank Miller," Murphy confidently stated, "CAA fully supports my idea, as long as Miramax supports me too, I'm confident I can persuade Frank Miller."
Weinstein tapped his fingers slowly on the armrest, thinking for a while before slowly speaking, "Murphy, if you can convince Frank Miller, we can start talks with Dark Horse Comics. But about the investment…"
He spread his hands, "You know, I have to be responsible to the Walt Disney Company and other shareholders, can't promise anything without seeing the script and detailed plan."
"I understand." Murphy nodded.
If Weinstein had promised millions of dollars of investment at this moment, Murphy would have doubted his sanity or motives.
Murphy stood up, "I'll leave now, Harvey."
"Sure," Weinstein stood to see him out, "Keep in touch."
Maintaining a close relationship with a young director with a promising future was natural.
Convincing someone like Frank Miller wasn't easy; he was already successful, and simple temptations of fame and fortune weren't the best approach.
From mid-August to the end of August, after "Horror Planet" was taken down, Murphy rested for a while. Unlike before, he didn't go on vacation but stayed mostly in Los Angeles, focusing on the new project besides exercising, visiting friends, and relaxing.
Successive commercial successes of "Saw" and "Horror Planet" gave him more capital and the possibility of attracting more investments, even millions of dollars. Thus, he set his sights on Frank Miller, a comic book master.
Frank Miller is a godlike figure in the North American comic world, having created influential works like "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns," "Sin City," "Daredevil: Born Again," "300," and "Angel of Darkness."
He profoundly changed Batman comics, credited with bringing the dark knight style to Batman.
Murphy wasn't eyeing the Batman series; he knew he wasn't capable yet, and DC and Warner wouldn't entertain him even if he wanted.
His target was one of Miller's masterpieces that established his status in the comic world, a work filled with a rich noir style— "Sin City"!
This comic uniquely combines violence and aesthetics, originally disparate concepts, into a known art form—"violent aesthetics." It uses appropriate artistic methods to render violence and bloody scenes, stimulating the senses while conveying profound aesthetic experiences and themes.
Murphy had studied this comic and its film adaptation, which broke conventions with its stylized visual language, creating a unique form of violent aesthetics.
The film "Sin City," with its highly artistic visual design, vividly portrays numerous violent and bloody scenes without feeling vulgar but instead making these brutal moments melancholy and profound, a groundbreaking work in violent aesthetics cinema.
After setting his goal, Murphy spent a lot of time watching and researching "Sin City" and related materials, believing the comic was naturally suitable for film adaptation. Without needing much editing and achieving the comic's visual effects, it could become a captivating movie.
This strengthened Murphy's resolve to obtain the adaptation rights.
Before the Saturn Awards ceremony, Murphy had roughly planned the adaptation, sticking to the original comic for filming, the least risky and most likely to gain Frank Miller's support.
Without Miller's support, obtaining the adaptation rights for "Sin City" was impossible.
The project felt more like a transition from comic to film than a complete film adaptation.
"Sin City" revolves around three interconnected stories—"Sin City," "The Big Fat Kill," and "That Yellow Bastard"—all set in the fictional city of Sin City. In this city, figures of light and justice like the cardinal, senator, and police are the sources of sin.
Darkness is the city's only scenery, violence the only remaining justice. To match the plot and theme, the comic's stories are mostly set in deep night, using simple and rough planar images and contrasting conceptual colors as visual language, striving to create a dark and terrifying urban atmosphere.
In it, the planar scene style boldly omits irrelevant details, even using pure color blocks to reconstruct visual objects, making the theme of violence straightforward and the bloody plot subtle and profound.
The adapted film would also employ conceptual color applications, primarily in black and white, with contrasting local colors, to depict a city rife with materialism, corruption, and perpetual darkness, fully activating the dark and violent Sin City.
Although no specific plan or script had been developed, Murphy had thought through many aspects, especially the filming technique.
Undoubtedly, he had to abandon traditional film cameras for the latest digital cameras, using green screens as the main filming background, relying on post-production CGI to recreate the comic's scenes.
The essence of the comic "Sin City" lies in its unique imagery and anti-hero characters. In a world of color comics, Frank Miller chose a black and white style, then applied dazzling colors to specific targets, creating a fresh experience.
To achieve these effects, relying on traditional film cameras and special effects technology is possible but costly, far exceeding the expense of using digital technology.
Despite the consecutive successes of "Saw" and "Horror Planet," Murphy knew Hollywood producers were pragmatic. At his current level, securing an investment over $50 million would be challenging, making digital cameras and digital effects the best choice for achieving visual effects.
Visual effects are omnipresent in movies, from early frame-by-frame shooting, makeup compensation, real-scene model shooting, and mechanical effects, to motion capture technology and 3D CGI. The film industry's technology is constantly evolving, with numerous technologies in each category, such as mechanical, acoustic, electromagnetic, and optical motion capture technologies. The final visual experience conveyed to the audience results from various technical categories, including basic cinematography.
Thus, as long as the desired effect is achieved, Murphy doesn't care whether traditional or the latest digital technology is used.
Whether advocating traditional real-scene models and mechanical effects or entirely green and blue screen production, whether traditional techniques or the latest CG, they all serve the purpose of film production.
However, before all this, Murphy must first convince Frank Miller.
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