The Best Entertainment Era

? Before nine o'clock in the morning, Li An met Xu Ligong, took the vehicle provided by the hotel, and rushed to the appointed place.

Xu Ligong asked: How is your inquiry?

Ang Lee said directly: Ronan Anderson is the owner of Embassy Pictures. This Embassy Pictures is very powerful. It has been established for more than 20 years. It was acquired by Ronan Anderson last year. The first film released after the acquisition was The Witch. Blair, it is said that with a publicity fee of more than 20 million US dollars, it has won nearly 300 million US dollars in the global box office.

So, the embassy film company's distribution capability is guaranteed? Xu Ligong didn't have a hard time coming to this conclusion.

Ang Lee said: There is also Death Comes last December. In North America alone, the box office reached more than 80 million U.S. dollars.

Xu Ligong was lost in thought.

Embassy Pictures has more than ten years of cooperation with major theater chain companies in North America. Ang Lee continued: Whether art theater chains or commercial theater chains, we have cooperation.

Xu Ligong nodded slowly, and asked after a while: You have cooperated with many Hollywood companies, but contacting them has been fruitless?

Ang Lee shook his head directly: I sent invitations to all six major companies for this premiere, but only Sony Entertainment came here, because Sony Classics has some investment relationship, and the filmgoer didn't talk to us at all.

He let out a long sigh: My last Ride with the Devil...

Xu Ligong knew that the film directed by Ang Lee could not be described as a fiasco. The film company has always been realistic. If he didn't know Ang Lee well enough, he would not have made up his mind to cooperate with him in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Ang Lee asked at this time: How was your talk with Harvey Weinstein last night?

It's not ideal. Xu Ligong said: Miramax wants to buy out the North American copyright in one go, but Harvey Weinstein is only willing to pay $5 million.

Hearing this figure, Li An said: This person has always liked to lower the price. I guess he has seen that no other large distribution companies have contacted us. He is always well-informed.

Xu Ligong's contact with Harvey Weinstein seemed very unpleasant, with a few traces of anger flashing across his face, he said, We'll talk about it after we talk to Ronan Anderson.

The films have all premiered in Cannes, and the most important North American release has not yet been settled, so he is somewhat anxious.

As soon as ten o'clock arrived, Li An and Xu Ligong waited for Ronan in the coffee shop.

The two sides shook hands and said hello, and quickly turned to the topic.

Ronan did not directly say that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon would be released, but questioned the film first.

This is also a kind of temptation, to try whether the opponent has a hole card in terms of issuance.

Director Li, Mr. Xu. Ronan said seriously: I've read Mr. Wang Dulu's original work, the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Except for the background time and the names of the characters, almost everything in the story has changed.

Xu Ligong looked at Ronan in surprise.

Ang Lee has been in the United States for many years and knows that there are martial arts fans, so he said, Mr. Anderson has also seen martial arts?

Ronan nodded: I've read the original, not the English translation. He switched directly to Chinese: Don't doubt it, I can understand it.

Hearing the northern Chinese accent, Xu Ligong reacted and said, Mr. Anderson knows martial arts movies?

I should understand a little bit. Ronan thought for a while, and said, This is also where I am strange. Director Li, with all due respect, the film you made is seriously inconsistent with the martial arts films of the East and the spirit reflected by martial arts. , and even completely subverted the martial arts films that have been developed in the East for many years.

Li An didn't answer, Xu Ligong said: Mr. Anderson knows the meaning of martial arts?

Regarding Xu Ligong's continuous doubts, Ronan didn't take it seriously at all. After all, his appearance is here. In the traditional concept of the East, how many Yankees are interested in martial arts movies and martial arts?

Regardless of Xu Ligong's words, Ronan continued to question Ang Lee: As far as I know, one of the themes of martial arts films is family and country feelings. Mr. Jin Yong's works have described it. A great chivalrous man is for the country and the people. The other is Pay attention to crossing the rivers and lakes, fight against injustice, and be happy with grievances...

Xu Ligong was a little surprised. A ghost old man could say such a thing, which means that he has not only watched martial arts movies and martial arts, but also studied them in depth.

A person who knows martial arts films to be the distributor of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? It seems to be better than those publishers who don't understand anything and mess around.

Li An suddenly smiled, and said: Mr. Anderson's words are very reasonable. He paused, and then said: Your words summarize the essence and spirit of martial arts movies.

Ronan didn't seem to take the compliment at all, and continued to probe: But I didn't see this in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This... doesn't look like a martial arts movie.

Xu Ligong frowned, and suddenly felt that meeting a knowledgeable Gui Lao was also troublesome.

Ang Lee was very calm and asked, Mr. Anderson, do you really intend to release my film?

Of course Ronan would not give an affirmative answer, saying: I personally like martial arts movies, but your Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon gave me a lot of doubts, because the scope of the adaptation is too large, and it is different from what I know. Martial arts movies are completely different.

As soon as these words came out, Li An immediately understood that if the doubts of the owner of the distribution company could not be dispelled, the business would definitely blow up this time.

At present, there is only one publisher interested in North America, Miramax, and the asking price is extremely unsatisfactory. If the current distribution company gives up, when will it find a suitable North American publisher.

The tragic failure of Riding with the Devil has shaken Ang Lee's self-confidence.

Xu Ligong wanted to interject, but held back. Compared to Ang Lee, he didn't know Hollywood well enough.

Li Anlue thought about it and said: This is indeed an unconventional martial arts movie, which contains a lot of my personal things. A few years ago, I read Wang Dulu's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Among martial arts, I like Baiyu the most. The second is Wang Dulu. When filming Sense and Sensibility, I conceived Ice Storm, and at the same time Mr. Xu represented me to negotiate the purchase of the copyright of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Ronan's real purpose is not to question the film, but to test whether the other party has other cards in the release, and to disintegrate the other party's mentality that they may expect too much, so he didn't intervene at this time.

Li An's voice is not too high, he seems worried that Luo Nan will not understand, and he speaks Chinese very slowly: Generally, martial arts always use men as the protagonists, which are more masculine. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon focuses on the heroine Yujiao Long, with a strange and complex psychological level, is a rich lady during the day, and fights and talks about love at night, she is a recalcitrant girl who fantasizes about the love of children in the rivers and lakes, and she is also a character that is rarely seen in Chinese dramas.

At the beginning of the project, many people were not optimistic about it, because the heroes Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian in the book didn't have many roles, and the very vivid and interesting little character Liu Taibao couldn't play the leading role in the book, and the protagonist Yu Jiaolong was something everyone avoided. A villainous character, no one approves of it except I like it. But I have made three western films in a row, and I must make a middle film.

About adaptation, here's what I think. There are two paths to film adaptation: You can choose to destroy the original book and make a good movie, or stay true to the original book and make a bad movie.

Luo Nan approved of this very much, and nodded in a subtle way.

Ang Lee continued: I think movies and movies are different carriers. When adapting, we often have to change everything from the inside to the face. The main focus is on the good-looking movie. If the original is bad, why should it be loyal to the original? If the original is good, other How can the beauty of words be replaced by sound and shadow. On the contrary, the best movies must be indescribable. So it doesn’t matter if they are faithful to the original or not.”

Ronan was unimpressed, as if he had limited interest in the movie.

Compared to the director Ang Lee, Xu Ligong is more like a businessman. At this time, he interjected: Mr. Anderson, in fact, this film is tailor-made for Western audiences!

Ronan gradually confirmed the results of the trial. According to these two people, it is likely that they have not found a suitable publisher, and it is estimated that there are not even candidates.

Coupled with the exclusivity of the North American market and the upstream position of the publishing company's industrial chain, it instantly gave him sufficient confidence.

Ronan deliberately wondered: How do you say that?

Xu Ligong was different from Li An, and immediately said from the market point of view: We tailor-made two pairs of protagonists and two clues for Westerners. Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian are prepared for Western intellectuals. Platonic love, Shakespeare-style dialogues and lofty humanistic realms are typical of Western culture.

Like many producers, he is also promoting his films to distributors: The protagonists of Luo Xiaohu and Yu Jiaolong who dare to love, hate, fight and kill western cowboy characters are prepared for ordinary American audiences. The story of Li Mubai killing the blue-eyed fox to avenge his master coincides with the main line of The Count of Monte Cristo, and the clue of stealing the Qingming Sword is very similar to an American melodrama.

Xu Ligong emphasized: So the significance of this film is not to show how many oriental elements are shown, but to make Westerners understand and accept this display in an appropriate way.

What you two said makes sense. Ronan said lightly, But there is one critical point! Director Li, this film has been mixed with too much of your thoughts, making it more authoritative rather than popular! Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has already left the category of popular martial arts movies!

Facing a person who knows enough about martial arts movies, Ang Lee can't deny this.

Ronan continued to beat their psychology: The reason why I am willing to talk to you is because there are a group of martial arts movie lovers in North America. They are the potential audience of this movie, but the subversive style of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is very interesting It may make this group of people give up.

He emphasized: Martial arts films are inherently niche, and the audience for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be even smaller. The risk of releasing such a film is extremely high.

Li Ang and Xu Ligong's hearts are sinking, especially Li Ang, he doesn't want to cooperate with the Weinstein brothers.

Ronan said at the right time: Embassy Pictures has to take great risks. If there is a slight error in operation, we may lose everything. If you really want this film to appear on the market, out of my personal preference, I can Let the embassy film industry try it. But the distribution fee is 50% of the total income, and the publicity and distribution costs are calculated separately.