In front of the desk, Lin Youlun was holding a stack of drawings and looking at them carefully.
Hearing the sound of footsteps behind him, he looked back and saw that Xu Ke was coming. A smile appeared on his face that was as serious as a rock.
"Director Xu came just in time, help me take a look at these 23 pictures!"
As he spoke, he handed over a stack of drawings in his hand.
Xu Ke was a little confused, but he still took over the drawings.
"After a lapse of 6 years, there are new auditions for the "007" series of movies. This time, the actor who plays James Bond is Pierce Brosnan, a powerful Hollywood actor. I must say that MGM has done a very right job. decision."
Xu Ke¡¯s reaction was not slow and he immediately answered Lin Youlun¡¯s words.
"Mr. Lin is very optimistic about this Brosnan?"
"Maybe he will surpass Sean Connery and become the most popular Bond actor in history." Lin Youlun shrugged, and then turned the topic back to the 23 drawings in Xu Ke's hand.
"After watching the new "007", I have been thinking, why can't our Chinese-language films produce works like "007" that can be filmed one after another? Is it because we lack similar films? theme?"
Xu Ke shook his head, "I don't think it's a matter of subject matter. The main reason is that Hong Kong lacks a long-lived film company like MGM."
The earliest film in the "007" series was filmed in the early 1960s, and at the same time, all Hong Kong film companies except Shaw Brothers had gone bankrupt. Even Shaw Brothers was in a state of suspension of production in the mid-1980s, launching sequels one after another like the 007 series. First of all, the conditions are not allowed.
Furthermore, Hong Kong society has been in a period of rapid change in the past thirty years. The "Huangmei Diao" popular in the 1960s has no market at all now, and the development of Western society Stable, the spy theme of 007 can always maintain its vitality.
"In addition to the reasons you mentioned, the immaturity of the Hong Kong film market is also an important factor. When a good subject comes out, a lot of people will immediately follow suit. Originally, a subject would not be out of date for more than ten years, but now it can only last two years. It was completely useless within three years, and this was true for zombie movies, gambling movies, and martial arts movies.¡±
Lin Youlun's tone sounded somewhat self-blaming. Xu could see that something was not right in the atmosphere, so he quickly said: "Since Jiayi Cinemas made the rule that no more than 10 movies of the same type can be released together in the same schedule, the situation of following the trend and rushing to film is actually It¡¯s already much better, otherwise the situation would be much worse.¡±
Lin Youlun smiled. No words were spoken.
Thanks to the strong integration of Lin Youlun, the Hong Kong film market has not seen the situation of internal strife among several theater chains. However, faced with the issue of following the trend and rushing to shoot, Lin Youlun still feels powerless.
The main reason is that the main components of investment in Hong Kong movies have been too complicated in recent years. Triads, speculators, and all kinds of unrelated people have poured into this industry. These people do not consider the long-term development of the entire market at all. They just want to make quick money, and they will film whatever genre makes money, and the market has been messed up by them.
Over the years, Youlun Lam has continuously guided Hong Kong films to develop in the direction of large-scale productions. The purpose is to raise the entry threshold for the film industry and eliminate a group of film companies who want to make quick money.
The Hong Kong film market can remain prosperous. Instead of showing signs of decadence in the mid-1990s like later generations, this series of arrangements by Lin Youlun played a big role. However, the problem of following the trend and snapping photos has not been fundamentally solved.
"It's really a pity for some themes, such as the "Once Upon a Time" series you shot. If there weren't so many follow-up works coming out and we kept shooting one film every two years, we should have no problem filming this theme in the next ten years or so. , and the box office won¡¯t be as low as the last few movies you made.¡±
Hearing Lin Youlun mention the "Once Upon a Time" series, Xu Ke's expression also became a little gloomy.
Originally, this series could indeed have a longer lifespan, but there were too many works that followed the trend and rushed to shoot. If Xu Ke didn't shoot it himself, sooner or later, this subject would be wiped out by various "copycats", and it would be in the hands of others. Thinking that it's better to have bad things in his own hands, Xu Ke just made 5 movies in one go. The box office of the first three movies was satisfactory, but the situation of the last two movies was very bad. Relying on the reputation and sales accumulated in the past, The income from the port can barely break even. For Xu Ke, this result is basically the same as losing money.
"Okay, let's not talk about this. I came to you today just to ask you to give me some advice, because I remember you mentioned to me before that you wanted to make a movie that combines martial arts and suspense, and then I watched the latest After the release of this 007 movie, suddenlyAn idea came up, maybe we can extend this idea further and make a martial arts version of the 007 series. "
Lin Youlun¡¯s words made Xu Ke¡¯s eyes light up. Now he just wanted to make a movie like this to test the waters. Unexpectedly, Lin Youlun¡¯s ambition was even greater and he wanted to make this into a series.
Xu Ke was still thinking about this, and Lin Youlun continued: "The 23 drawings in your hand were drawn by me from Ma Rongcheng. They represent 23 story ideas respectively. The names of the stories are on the drawings. Please help me choose which one is more suitable to shoot first!"
Xu Ke originally wanted to say that he had prepared a story, but he held back the words.
On the one hand, he didn¡¯t want to dampen Lin Youlun¡¯s interest, and on the other hand, it was because he had been attracted by these 23 drawings.
Psychic Shrine, Bronze Warrior, Giant Spirit Palm, Deadly Feast, Kunlun Golden Dome, "qingren" Vine, Ghost Valley, Five Ghost Gate, Nine-tailed Fox, Garuda, Seven-faced Man, Tongtian Empire, Mirage , Murderous Phoenix, Divine Dragon King, Jiuding Divine Bead, White-browed Taoist, Linglong Tower, Heavenly Fire, Korean Beauty, Thunderbolt Sanskrit Sound, Golden Scroll Looking at the 23 drawings, the little dissatisfaction in Xu Ke's heart was completely overcome by curiosity. His intuition told him that there must be a very exciting story behind these 23 drawings. In comparison, the script he had already conceived was a bit underwhelming.
Lin Youlun didn't mention it, and Xu Ke certainly didn't have the nerve to take out the script he brought, and then concentrated on studying the 23 drawings.
After Xu Ke read it over, Lin Youlun added: "These 23 stories are completely independent in content, but there may be a certain continuity in character settings. For details, you can refer to the 007 model. The whole story has only The two characters remain unchanged, one is Di Renjie and the other is Wu Zetian. The relationship between their identities is similar to that of James Bond and Mrs. M in 007."
Xu Ke did not speak, but carefully compared several drawings, and finally selected two from them, holding them in his hand hesitantly.
Lin Youlun glanced from the side and secretly smacked his tongue in his heart, because what Xu Ke chose was "Tongtian Empire" and "Shendu Dragon King". After all, he is the real original author of these stories, and even the order has not changed.
Xu Ke couldn¡¯t explain why he chose these two. He just felt that these two were suitable. However, this explanation would definitely not satisfy Lin Youlun, so he thought hard for a while and finally got some clues.
"From these two drawings, I can probably guess a little bit of the plot of the story."
Xu Ke first picked up the drawing of the Tongtian Empire, pointed to the huge Guanyin statue standing in Chang'an City on the way, and said: "This statue feels a bit like the American Statue of Liberty to me. The story must have a lot to do with it."
Lin Youlun smiled noncommittally and motioned for Xu Ke to continue.
Xu Ke picked up the drawing of "Dragon King of the Divine Capital" again, "This one is more obvious. It should be about a story related to sea monsters."
The smile on Lin Youlun's face became somewhat meaningful, "I think you still have a reason that you haven't said yet."
Xu Ke was stunned and smiled bitterly in his heart.
As expected, I still couldn¡¯t hide it from Lin Youlun.
"Because I think among all the 23 stories, the shooting cost of these two may be the lowest." Xu Ke gave the last reason.
Lin Youlun then asked: "Which one of the two do you think is cheaper?"
This time Xu Ke was finally stumped. He picked up the two drawings and looked at them again and again, and finally shook his head.
"It depends on the specific story content and what effect Mr. Lin ultimately hopes to achieve in the film. For example, for this Guanyin statue, whether there will be a panoramic display in the film and how realistic it needs to be, these will directly affect the cost. Then there is the question of whether this giant octopus-like sea monster will appear directly in the film, as a whole or in part, and how big the naval battle scene will be. Only by clarifying these questions can I answer Mr. Lin's questions."
"My minimum requirement for the Guanyin statue is to have an effect similar to the final battle on the Statue of Liberty in "Heroes of China", and then the octopus and sea monster should be on par with "Godzilla"."
As soon as Lin Youlun gave the answer, Xu Ke immediately started to worry about it.
"There is no doubt that the shooting cost of "Bongtian Empire" will be lower."
Lin Youlun immediately decided: "Okay, let's film "The Empire of Heaven" first!"
Xu Ke moved his mouth and wanted to ask Lin Youlun who he planned to find as director for this movie, but Lin Youlun had never mentioned this question before, so he didn't feel comfortable asking directly.
"By the way, you called me on the day of the Miss Hong Kong finals and said you were looking for Yang Gong.Wang Jing agreed to make a movie, but if you continue to insist on using Yang Christine, her salary will not be the same as before. "
Xu Ke felt a pain in his heart. Christine Yang became the champion of Miss Hong Kong. Naturally, her worth is not what it used to be. It is normal for Lin Youlun to propose a price increase. After all, Christine Yang now represents the face of the entire Hong Kong sister and cannot be treated lightly.