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Text Chapter 541 If you don¡¯t join, you will regret it for the rest of your life

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    On Duoduo's birthday, after the morning outing, Ye Wei sent Duoduo home, and then went to West Hollywood to have an arranged lunch with Jason Reitman.

    Jason Reitman, 29, is the eldest son of the famous Jewish filmmaker Ivan Reitman.  Reitman is an important member of the new Hollywood wave. He produced and directed the masterpiece "Ghostbusters", as well as "Brothers of the Dragon", "Six Days and Seven Nights", etc. He is still active in the film industry, but this year he directed  "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" received mediocre results.

    ??And Reitman Jr. became a father earlier this year, and his Asian screenwriter wife Michelle Lee gave birth to a daughter, Josie.  He grew up on the set, acting as an actor and assistant on his father's films.  But he originally wanted to be a doctor after graduating from high school, so he transferred to the University of Southern California to major in English/Creative Writing before enrolling in Skidmore College's pre-med program, and then naturally became a filmmaker.

    "The acquaintance between Ye Wei and Reitman was nothing special. Reitman attended Harvard-Westlake High School. The boys' and girls' schools had just merged when he attended high school, and the principal, Tom Hudnut, was not that old yet.  When talking about the principal, both of them would snort.  It's not that Reitman was that troublesome. It is said that he was a movie nerd and a loser in school at that time, but now he is a sign of the school, a talented director who was not expelled.

    Reitman became famous later than Ye Wei. He started his career in TV commercials after graduating from college. His debut feature film "Thank You for Smoking", which he wrote and directed based on the novel of the same name, premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival and was praised.  Fox Searchlight bought the distribution.  This R-rated comedy with a production cost of 6.5 million was released in March this year. It received 24.79 million at the North American box office in 26 weeks. The global box office has exceeded 30 million. It has an 86% freshness rating and an 87% popularity rating. It is a huge success.

    29 years old is still a very young age for a film director. With Reitman¡¯s talent and connections, there is no doubt that a new director star is rising rapidly.

    The two of them don¡¯t have a strong friendship, they only play together a few times, but they are very compatible.  Ye Wei looked at Reitman. This guy is still a pure non-Hollywood independent filmmaker. "Thank You for Smoking" was great. He also knew what he meant when he said, "Your daughter is a dog."  Reitman looked at Ye Wei, and he liked her no matter how much he looked at her.

    And in this industry, even if you don't take the initiative to form a clique, you will still be divided by others. The two have a common camp: the Harvard-Westlake Clan, and Spielberg's stepdaughter Jessica Karp  Shaw, the Gyllenhaal siblings, etc., so they are naturally friends.  He was fired but it was still OK. The Ye Wei Award at the HW Film Festival is still there, and Reitman was this year's guest.

    Anyway, Reitman is busy with a new feature film project called "Juno."

    "Juno" is a typical independent film project that is difficult to produce.

    It all started with screenwriter Diablo Coti. This 28-year-old woman grew up in a harmonious middle-class family. She graduated from a Catholic school and worked as an office clerk. She had a stable job, a husband and a family. She wrote a popular blog in her free time.  .  But this kind of life was too boring for her, so on a whim, she participated in an amateur striptease competition when she was 18 years old. She was liberated from the depression for many years and has been out of control ever since.  With her husband's support, she worked as a stripper for a year and continued to write blogs and books about the industry.

    Among her readers was producer Manson Novick ("Sleepy Hollow," "Red Eye Flight"), who advised her to stop stripping and write movie scripts.  Later, Coty wrote "Juno" based on his high school experience and the controversial subject of teenage pregnancy.

    Novick recommended this script to his friend Reitman. As soon as Reitman saw it, he thought, "I will regret it for the rest of my life if I don't do it." So he did it!  At that time, "Thank You for Smoking" had not yet been released, so the ambitious duo simply could not find the money.  It is easier to find a well-known director to raise funds. Novick once wanted to find Jon Boll to take over (48 years old, son of Martin Boll, a famous film editor, and has started producing and directing in recent years), but  Reitman put down everything he was doing and almost fell out with his old friend over the director's microphone.

    Let Reitman be Reitman, but money problems continued to plague "Juno" and production had to be postponed again and again.

    Mainstream film producers have no interest in it, and independent film producers are also scared away. Why?

    There have always been very few pregnancy-themed movies. Only 11 have been released since the 1980s, and 7 of them ended up losing money. The only ones that were successful were Steve Martin's "The Pregnancy 2" and Hugh Grant's "Pregnant."  Star comedies like "September" were all from 1995.

    "The biggest shadow of "Juno" is the 2001 campus youth comedy "Honey and Spice" about a high school girl's pregnancy. Such a template movie is too miserable.  27 million budget, 2150 theaters opened, 5 weeks of rush release grossed 13.21 million box office (16.98 million worldwide), word-of-mouth evaluation was a mess, 28% freshness, 42% love, New Line lost a lot of money,  And the feature filmFrancini McDougall, a female director whose female films failed so miserably, was reduced to a video film director ("Skating Honey" in 2005 and "Cowboy" in 2006, failed to turn around), and screenwriter Mandy Nelson was dismissed from the industry  After being eliminated, several female leads with promising prospects at the time, such as Marla Sokolov, Mary Shelton, and Melissa George, all experienced a decline in their fortunes, ruining their futures.

    This is what happens when high school girls talk about pregnancy, abortion or not, and raising or adopting a child.

    But Roger Ebert gave it three stars and said: "It's lively, bold and playful." Ye Wei also felt that it wasn't that bad, it just happened like a SS movie review thing.  This also means that even if "Juno" is made well, its controversial nature will ruin it and make it nothing more than a puddle of pregnant woman's vomit.

    So the situation is like "Little Miss Sunshine" again, the project has been tossed around, John Malkovich joined, Jim Miller joined, the production team is getting bigger and bigger, but the budget has not increased much, and it can't be put into production.  This is a project that even professional swindlers like Steve Bing would not dare to invest money in.

    So "Juno" has naturally become a well-known controversial project in the industry. Everyone seems to be really successful when reading the script, but if one mistake is made, it will be over.

    "Juno" was among the top 10 Hollywood "script blacklists" in 2005.  The "Blacklist" was started last year and was created by producer Franklin Leonard to facilitate the industry's screening and reading of good scripts to be filmed.  The blacklist is first made by a group of producers and studio executives who list what they think are the top 10 best scripts of the year. After they are read, the top 10 scripts are voted on.  This new thing has attracted much attention in the industry.

    Most of the scripts on the blacklist are "problematic and good scripts". It depends on who dares to spend money to try to see whether it is real money or shit.

    The turning point occurred after the release of "Thank You for Smoking". Reitman became known as a young talent, and "Juno" made money, but it was not enough!  No matter how hard we work now, we only have a budget of 6.5 million, and we have to benefit from Jennifer Garner's salary reduction to join.  This budget cannot realize the shooting plan unless the shooting location is moved from Minneapolis to Vancouver, Canada. It only takes 6 weeks and 30 working days to modify some particularly expensive scenes that require weather cooperation. The scenery and props can be cheap and fake.  It doesn't have to be expensive, really.

    Even if we are stretched like this, it may not be possible. It would be better if there is no accident. If we miss a few days for any reason, it means missing several scenes.

    If there were two to three million more, the crew would undoubtedly be able to shoot more calmly and pursue quality.  Can Ivan Reitman afford these millions?  Of course it is possible.  But how many times can I get it?  Producers are gambling with other people's money, while independent producers are looking for acquaintances and fanatical laymen to trick them, and they will only deceive them one by one.

    Reitman wants to trick Ye Wei. Although there is a high probability that "Juno" will lose all its money in the end, and it will not make much money, but it is for an independent film!

    The problem with "Juno" is not just money, but also actors, to be precise, young actresses.

    The failure of this narrow escape movie has no impact on Jennifer Garner. It is just a common failure of stars to support independent literary films.  For "Juno" and her best friend "Lea", Mara Sokolov's lament has not gone away yet. Anyone who wants to play these two roles must first weigh whether they can afford failure.

    How successful can it be if it succeeds?  In 2004, "Ave Maria" (97% freshness, 87% love, 3 million budget, 6.52 million/12.59 million box office, 22-year-old Caterina Sandino Moreno won an Oscar for her screen debut  Best Actress Nomination)?  But pregnancy is just the introduction. The 17-year-old Colombian girl from a lower class took risks and participated in human body drug smuggling to New York. This is the story.  It cannot be used as a reference for Juno.

    This has created a situation where young actresses with bright prospects cannot take the risk to act in it. Even if they are tempted, the agents and managers will strongly prevent it.  However, these people are the most talented people. Allison Michalka, the 17-year-old star of "Cow Beauty" can act. Many people can, but what kind of performance can they perform?

    If all goes well, "Juno" will be filmed from February to March next year, and the crew is still looking for two girls.  It costs a lot of money to find new people through auditions, and it¡¯s money.  Who is the most familiar young actress in the industry right now?  Who has a large number of good talents who can recommend and influence them to dare to star?  viy is not the only one, it is definitely one of them.

    But Ye Wei is like a shark, and they are like a group of fish and shrimps. Once he joins, where will he sit?  How much power do you want?  Will he put his stamp on "Juno"?  This is something that the production team, director, and screenwriters all have to consider.  Cooperation is a pleasant thing, but if conflicts arise, the relationship will be ruined.

    Therefore, Reitman has not used this last trump card. He finally contacted Ye Wei and roped him in as a co-producer. However, he sincerely stated that he did not want "Juno" to become a viy movie. Of course, his  Suggestions will be taken seriously.

    ? ?The first is investment, and the second is selection.  If Verity Ye doesn't want those "future girls" to be in danger, and hopes that he can help put in a good word to the candidates they are looking for, Ellen Page is really good, but they are still considering it.  This 19-year-old girl who became famous with "Fruit Candy" is very popular. This year she is the "Phantom Cat" in "X-Men: The Last Stand". Next year, she will have two leading roles and one supporting role in movies.  She is not the future, she is the present.

    "Weige, we need a Juno!" Reitman said at the lunch table as if he needed an alien.

    "What do you think of Lily Collins?" Ye Wei joked, "Get to know her, our school girl, she is about to try acting."

    "Oh?" Reitman smiled immediately after hearing this. He knew he was joking and could hear his intimacy, "I know her and have met her at school activities. Juno is not her type, she is a rebellious one.  , a boyish girl, looks very ordinary, like a little wild cat, smart, self-centered, a little weird. "

    Ye Wei has not read the script. The script is not mysterious. It has been spread all over Hollywood, and Reitman gave him a copy.  It¡¯s just that he didn¡¯t want to be disturbed by other stories until he finished filming w¡¯sb, so he didn¡¯t watch it.  But when Reitman said Ellen Page was the ideal candidate, he understood what was going on: "The more ordinary the better, a little girl, stunted, to accentuate the huge heaviness of her belly, right?"

    Reitman nodded, that¡¯s it!

    ¡°Jason, after I finish filming and w¡¯sb has read the script, I will give you my decision and thoughts on this matter.¡± Ye Wei gave this answer at the lunch table.

    They can only wait and be busy. Whether the filming of "Juno" can start smoothly in February next year depends largely on whether Ye Weijia joins or not.

    Today, in the middle of the night after playing "Ice Age" enough for Sanren, Ye Wei went back to the suite to rest for a while. Suddenly he remembered this, got up, found the script of "Juno" and started reading.  Unexpectedly, the more I read, the more energetic I became. After a few pages, I screamed with excitement. I read it once and immediately read it a second time This is so damn good!

    Juno is astonished!

    Only then did he realize what stupid thing he said that day. Of course Lily couldn't act!  It's totally out of tune, and she can't play "Lea" either. Princess Lily doesn't belong in this kind of "vulgar" movie, and she's the kind of actor who can't support a movie with her current acting talent. She can only act now  She, herself, would have been a disaster if she played Juno.

    But it can work!  Juno, this works!

    This movie is totally different from the previous pregnancy movies. First, Juno is so charming; second, the Juno family is so loving; third, it is not a campus comedy like "Honey and Hotties", the whole story is "  "Children", especially Juno takes it seriously; fourth, Juno, her lines are all so classic, she is the "Pope in the swimming pool".

    "The Pope in the Swimming Pool" is a technique mentioned in Blake Snyder's screenwriting book "Save the Cat" published last year. It is to throw out necessary information to the audience in a relaxed and interesting way, so that the audience can  Enjoy those boring ones.  "Little Miss Sunshine" is like that, and "Juno" is like that, allowing the audience to watch a serious, true, persuasive and touching story in a light and fun atmosphere.

    The Juno family is an LMS-style loving family. The humor of Juno's parents is almost unique in the history of youth movies. This is called cool.  The campus part has the atmosphere of "Napoleon the Great", although it is far from that level, it is still cool.

    And the deeper feelings and themes gradually become clear from hiding. This story is not only about early pregnancy of girls, but also about the growth anxiety and smartness of all teenagers, that subtle mentality that seems precocious but is actually childish: looking at the peers on campus, they are all idiots.  Inexplicably, he began to admire a social figure who had no merit except his age.

    Juno and her adoptive father, Mark, may have developed unwise feelings based on this, she looked down on Pauly, the child's father, for his immaturity, which is childish for him but disgusting for a mature adult.  In the end, Juno, who is not stupid, suddenly sees through it, and she and Pauly reconcile.  Not only that, the female empathy of Juno and adoptive mother Vanessa, but also the crisis of middle-class families, school bullying, social oppression and other clich¨¦s are all mentioned. This script has a very rare depth.

    If Reitman can shoot well, it doesn¡¯t mean that the second-generation star must be great, but it¡¯s impossible for him not to ask his old man for advice. Ivan Reitman is an expert at telling funny stories. Let¡¯s take a look at ¡°Thank You for Smoking¡±  ¡±, they father and son may have some unique comedy secrets.

    The key is that times have changed. It is dangerous to talk about these controversial topics. Once successful, it will be phenomenal and revolutionary. "Juno" is actually a heroine with great impact during the awards season.

    ???Also, Judd Apatow¡¯s new movie ¡°Knocked Up¡± (Universal Pictures, budget 30 million)??Seth Rogen (Katherine Heigl) has been produced and is scheduled to be released on June 1 next year.  After the huge success of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin", whoever despises the talent of "Freaks and Geeks" is a fool. This guy is targeting young people to play a pregnancy comedy, and Universal has so much investment, but he dares to put it in  The hottest month of the summer vacation is the week after "Pirates of the Caribbean 3". What does this mean?  The market is here, and the quality of "Bucket Overnight" is excellent, so investment in promotion and distribution will be huge.

    So what¡¯s the ideal future for ¡°Juno¡±?  "Bungled Overnight" was successful and caused a huge effect. People will definitely be unsatisfied. How long has it been since there was a decent pregnancy movie in theaters?  It¡¯s been 11 years.  Market demand has risen. After a while, when people no longer talk about "Knocked Up" and turn their attention to other similar movies, "Juno" with great quality and good publicity is released. What will happen?  ?

    These are not mysterious, there is a reason why it raised 6.5 million.

    Every project plan can have a good ending or a hidden bad ending.  The industry generally believes that what awaits "Juno" will be a bad ending. Ye Wei thinks it is a good ending, simple, real, smart, interesting, cool, and there is a big truck driving in front of it. How could it be from "Honey and Spice"  Reappear?

    Making this gamble in the film industry is worth it no matter whether you win or lose, otherwise you will regret it for the rest of your life when it succeeds.

    Jason, you are so lucky!

    In the hotel suite, Ye Wei decided to bring money to join, either 3 million or 5 million.  On the other hand, he is willing to recommend Juno and Leah to the girls and lobby them. Even if they fail miserably in the end, he will have a clear conscience.

    So who do you recommend?  In other words Who should I help win these two roles?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but the first thing he thought of was Nina. If Nina could play Juno maybe her dream would come true and she would smile brightly.
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