hunt hollywood

This time, frankly speaking, Simon can't guarantee anything. After all, there will be "Titanic" this year. If the big ship achieves another glory, he will take the initiative to "go down" next year.

All Simon can do is give Redford enough support.

The film is expected to start shooting in March. This is the first production meeting after the crew is set up. Simon personally participated in it, mainly for everyone to communicate face to face and discuss the script.

The quality of the former "Horse Whisperer" is beyond doubt, but it is not perfect.

Whether it is the review media or ordinary audiences, they all feel that this film is a bit flat, lacking shock and passion.

In fact, the lack of orgasm.

This is not a problem for Simon at all. Daenerys Entertainment's commercial film is very stable in terms of rhythm.

Through the preparation in advance and the discussion at the meeting, several emotional flashpoints were quickly determined, such as Tom letting the little girl Grace drive while blindfolded on purpose, such as the accidental death of the leading actor at the end, and so on. Even more shocking.

There is also the soundtrack, which is actually the key to mobilizing the audience's emotions.

This time, Simon invited John Williams, winner of many Oscars for the best soundtrack. The magnificent western prairie and the grand and shocking symphony complement each other.

Finally, it is the appropriate compression of the film length.

The original version of "The Horse Whisperer" lasted 169 minutes, which is close to three hours. Even if the film is good, the audience will inevitably feel tired.This time, Simon did not ask for the standard two hours, but hoped that Radford would at least be within 150 minutes.

The meeting started at 9:30 in the morning and lasted for an hour. Many issues were not discussed thoroughly. It's just that Simon's time is limited, and the follow-up can only be discussed slowly by the crew.

At 10:30, the meeting ended and everyone left the meeting room together.

Robert Redford and Simon fell behind side by side, discussing some digressions: "This year's Sundance 16 will open, Simon, will you go there in person?"

"Of course, the Westeros party will continue. By the way, Bob, any good movies this year?"

"The films submitted by Daenerys are great, but, you know, Simon, Sundance mainly supports newcomers and new works, and some of your works will not be shortlisted."

"Of course, I also hope that Sundance will continue to tap more cutting-edge filmmakers."

The two of them talked, waited for the others to greet and left, and walked out together.Just after leaving the conference room, she saw the little Scarlett Johansson standing in front of a man and a woman, apparently waiting for her.

Seeing Scarlett and the others, Robert Redford seemed to suddenly think of something, and said to Simon: "That's it, Simon, see you at Sundance."

Then he nodded to the little girl and left first.

Simon then looked at a certain little girl.

In the meeting just now, the little goblin’s continuous eyes on her were wonderful. Simon was hit by the clumsy waves several times before he realized it. It was probably some arrangement of his subordinates. The little girl knew about it for some reason. This kind of arrangement, not only does not resist, but obviously looks forward to it.

"Mr. Westeros, I just, want to thank you again, thank you for giving me this opportunity."

"I saw your audition tape and it was great, so Scarlett, you deserve it."

This is true.

Performing this kind of thing, even though Simon has always believed that acquired learning is important, he also knows that sometimes, outsiders can only envy when God rewards food.

Scarlett pursed her mouth that was more beautiful after straightening her teeth, and changed the subject deftly: "Mr. Westeros, this is my manager, Scott Lambert, and this is my sister Van Nissa, she's also, uh, an actress."

Scott Lambert shook hands with the young man in front of him with a look of honor, not only was he not disappointed when he saw the young man turned his gaze to the slim girl next to him in surprise, but he was secretly pleased.

It became.

Simon was really surprised. In fact, he didn't have much feeling for Scarlett Johansson. He just didn't expect that this girl's sister is quite in line with his own taste. She is of obvious Slavic descent. She is tall, fair-skinned, and has delicate and delicate facial features. , not at all like Scarlett.

Vanessa Johnson was also a little thankful that her sister didn't blurt out that she was her assistant, otherwise she would definitely be looked down upon by Simon Westeros. When she noticed that the man in front of her was looking at her, she suddenly realized that her face turned rosy immediately. After being at a loss for a moment, I thought of reaching out: "Hi, hello, Mr. Westeros, my name is Vanessa."

"Hello," Simon shook hands with the girl in front of him, and suddenly he had some bad intentions. He didn't know what it would be like to make his sister a big star in this life, so he said, "I have a meeting right now. If you don't Urgent, you can wait a moment, and I invite you to dinner at noon."

"what……"

Vanessa reacted for a moment, her eyes widened.

Scarlett felt a little ashamed when she saw her sister's stupid appearance, so she could only agree quickly: "Thank you, Mr. Westeros, it's such an honor."

Even though Scott Lambert had a million wishes to have lunch with Westeros in his heart, he politely declined, and said that he would trouble Simon to send the sisters home after the meal.

Simon didn't hold back either, he asked girl A around him to arrange for the Johnson sisters, and then hurriedly transferred to another meeting room in the same building.

There is also a theater group here.

To be precise, it has not yet been formed. At present, only the director, Brian De Palma, has been confirmed. The name of the project is also famous in the 90s-"LA Confidential".

Chapter 1086 Casting

"Hi Simon, how are you doing?"

"Busy, Brian, how about you?"

"I just came back from New York. Bob and I went to see the performance of the Metropolitan Opera House. It was so beautiful. Martin also said that he planned to add it to his own works in the future."

"Speaking of Martin, hasn't he been wanting to shoot "Gangs of New York" all these years, and I'm going to talk to him."

"Oh, this is really good news. Martin has been waiting for more than ten years. Simon, if you are not kidding, I will call him after this meeting?"

"Of course it's not a joke."

In another conference room with sets of sofas and a projector hanging on the wall, which is more like a lounge, Simon exchanged pleasantries with Brian De Palma, and then had a conversation with Ira Deutsch, the president of Gaomen Films. Mann and Linda Vargas, the casting director who has followed him for many years, greeted briefly, and everyone sat down on the sofa together.

Straight to the point.

The project discussed today is called "LA Confidential", which is the third book in the "L.A. Tetralogy" by the famous American crime novelist James Arroy. The first part of the tetralogy is based on the 1947 The novel "Black Dahlia" is adapted from the "Black Dahlia" murder case in Los Angeles that caused a sensation in the United States in [-].

After the first novel became famous in one fell swoop, Elorie wrote three other novels of the same theme in the same age and background.

As for the copyright of the Los Angeles tetralogy, the earliest "Black Dahlia" was bought by Universal in the past, and after producing an unsuccessful mini-series, it was refrigerated. After the merger, it was taken over by Daenerys Entertainment, "LA Confidential" It was completed in 1990 and bought by Daenerys Entertainment.

Simon was not very interested in the other two "Boundless Wasteland" and "White Jazz", and let other studios snatch them up.

Due to the lack of arrangements, it was not until the end of last year that "LA Confidential" was put on the agenda.

If Simon wants to be safe, he can pull up the original team, but he didn't do that, but planned to let Brian De Palma be the director.

This is actually a somewhat risky decision.

Because the 2007 version of "Black Dahlia" was directed by Brian De Palma, after it was released, there was a lot of criticism, and the box office was also bleak. With an investment of 5000 million US dollars, the global box office is only close to 5000 million US dollars.

However, Simon has seen Palma's version of "The Black Dahlia". Whether it is from the perspective of a filmmaker or an ordinary audience, this film is definitely not as bad as outside criticism. It is amazing, and the stunning video records of Elizabeth Short's performance played by Mia Kirschner in the film have made many film critics think that it has reached the Oscar nomination level.

It can be said that Brian De Palma's director level is completely fine.

where is the problem?

script!

This is the most direct reason for the failure of "Black Dahlia".

As long as you have watched "LA Confidential" and then "Black Dahlia", the blind person can feel the producer's ambition to create a second "LA Confidential", whether it is the role matching or the story structure, imitating "LA Confidential" The traces of "City Confidential" are too heavy.

So self-defeating.

What the audience wants to see is Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia murder. As a result, the Black Dahlia case in the film is almost reduced to the background of the story. I just saw a ghost.

As for why this is the case, when we get to the bottom of it, the director of "Black Dahlia" was initially determined to be David Fincher, and the script had already been finalized. As a result, Fincher wanted to make a three-hour black-and-white film, and the producer was finished as soon as he heard it. , So Fincher withdrew, and went round and round and fell into the hands of Palma, who had not been able to get out of the trough for several years because of the box office failure of "Mission to Mars" in 2000.

Palma, who has been idle for several years, wanted to take up the job, so he could only follow the producer's mind.

The result can be imagined.

Let's talk about "LA Confidential".

How about the original "L.A. Confidential"? Of course it's excellent. It's just a script that perfectly blends the structure of the three male protagonists. It deserves the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

It's just that the film as a whole is somewhat satisfactory after all.

Just like a well-balanced dish, the overall standard is not low, it just lacks some things that make people shine.

Therefore, Simon gave up the original director Curtis Hansen and chose Brian De Palma. In addition to the friendship that Palma helped him accumulate from the "Run Lola Run" era, he also hoped that this film can be Going up another level, based on the original version, there are more bright colors of Parma style.

Thinking about this, after Simon sat down, he took a folder handed over by the girl A who had arranged for the Johnson sisters to rush over. While watching the female assistant distribute the documents to several other people, he asked Palma: " So, Brian, what do you think of the script for L.A. Confidential?"

"It's very exciting. Frankly speaking, Simon, I'm a little worried about whether I can control this project. I roughly counted that the entire script has more than 80 characters just with lines. In addition, there are more than 60 exterior scenes, not counting the interior. It was a big test for filming and editing. I tried to simplify, but found that there is no redundant place. Simon, this is definitely not the screenwriter who signed Brian Helgeland. I think it is only you You have to write it yourself to get to that level, right?"

Simon smiled and shook his head: "I don't have so much time to finish a script myself, mainly because Elroy's novel is good enough, but I did provide the outline, and I also asked Helgeland to rewrite and revise it several times. Only once did we reach our current level.”

"I've already read the novel," Brian De Palma said, but he didn't continue after a pause. He had already experienced the talent of the young man beside him ten years ago, so there's no need to be too emotional. Turning to the main topic: "Simon, in my opinion, this script is a wonderful ukiyo-e of Los Angeles in the 50s. Because there are many characters in the scene, the choice of the protagonist is very important. If their acting skills and temperament cannot support The story, and the film ends up being pretty mediocre. But if you cast the best actor, Simon, you know, it's going to be very costly."

"Since you agreed to be the director, this is what we're discussing today," Simon said, motioning to Linda Vargas: "I've asked Linda to start preparing some time in advance."

Linda Vargas, who had just sat down for a while, saw the boss beckoning to her, got up and walked over to turn on the projector, and did not return, but sat next to the operating table with a laptop.