It is not an easy thing to shoot Infernal Affairs. On the one hand, this movie needs a good script; on the other hand, this movie also requires a lot of excellent actors.
It would be impossible if Levi wanted to shoot such a movie when he first entered Hollywood. However, now that he has his own contacts and film company, he can use his own film company to check some police files and then modify the script based on this, making the script even better.
During the filming process of CSI, Enigma Company already had a lot of contacts with the police, and it was not difficult to make some contacts.
As for the lines of the script, he believed that Bob could do a good job. He doesn't want the overly elegant, gangster-like discourse like the Hong Kong version, nor the excessively foul language of the American version. As for the lines, it is more in line with his idea to leave it to Bob.
In addition, as for actors, he also had to start preparing early.
And since his name is placed there, it is not particularly difficult to call on some outstanding actors to act. It's just that he has to think about it - in this movie, the two undercover agents and the two bosses all play a crucial role. The younger brothers on both sides and the two girlfriends have very few roles, but they all have roles of great significance.
The group drama in this movie has a lot of meaning, and it is not easy to make a good movie.
Fortunately, Levi has plenty of time now: the movie's original script has not been written yet, so he doesn't need to worry. After confirming the acquisition of the script, if he said that he wanted to shoot a movie and the purpose of this movie was to hit the Oscars, he bet that many actors would jump out asking to cooperate with him.
A famous director does have great benefits when he directs a movie.
Of course, if anyone asks to cooperate with him, that will be a matter after returning to Hollywood, and in Japan, he still has some things to do.
First of all, with Sammo Hung, you must have an explanation if you ask him to help you.
"Personally, I think the decline of Hong Kong films, apart from market problems, is primarily due to laziness. I heard that you have already disbanded the Hung Family. Fist-to-flesh realistic fighting is better. If Kung Fu movies want to satisfy people, they still have to innovate in Kung Fu itself.
After Jack Cheng came to the United States, he learned boxing head dodging movements. As his senior brother, Mr. Hung, I believe it will not be difficult if you want to learn some other moves.
Hong Kong martial arts movies were still self-sufficient in the past. In terms of martial arts moves, you can absorb Chinese and Japanese martial arts and integrate them into the movie."
Levi's suggestion to Sammo Hung is actually based on his own understanding of movies. In the future he knows, kung fu movies have embarked on such a road. Compared with flying around, slow-motion special effects, and blunt fighting, the new martial arts, or the real fighting in the future, gave this movie genre vitality.
In Levi's memory, the success of films such as "The Fuse (Flash Point)," "SPL: Sha Po Lang (SPL: Kill Zone)," and "Ip Man" is due to their real fighting scenes and the new fighting methods introduced in these films. Donnie Yen's skills were introduced in Fuse, not only jujitsu, but also a classic knife and stick sparring in Sha Po Lang, and Ip Man began to develop short fights - these style of play, visual innovations; it's what keeps the genre alive.
These things are actually not difficult to learn: In fact, the days when these fighting skills dominated MMA were in the 1970s. In the current fighting world, these skills are already outdated, but the film industry is still following the path of the 1980s.
In the past few years, the survival pressure was too low, so Hong Kong movies did not have the idea of self-evolution...
From this, we can also see why Bruce Lee is a top film master: Bruce Lee has never forgotten to innovate in movies. To be honest, he took the lead in using Nunchucks to fight and refused to defeat Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the film for the sake of reality. These things are very difficult for younger generations to possess. It is difficult for filmmakers other than him to have this awareness.
Jackie Chan himself is willing to learn, but his character and style cannot lead the trend. And if Levi remembers correctly, Donnie Yen will complete the introduction of these things into the film industry in the future, but his temper and vision are far from Bruce Lee's.
Giving these to Sammo Hung is better than letting him do these things. After all, Sammo Hung's talent in martial arts guidance, or his experience and grasp of movies, are all among the best in Hong Kong, and he can do even better.
"It's not difficult to introduce these." Listening to Levi's words, Sammo Hung frowned, "It's just that I haven't tried it, so it might be a little troublesome."
"You don't need to do things that are not troublesome. As a top martial arts instructor, I believe you can make these things shine."
Levi is very clear that a martial arts instructor's job is how to design movements rather than the actual fight. All kinds of fighting techniques have flaws, and martial arts instructors need to consider how to bring out their charm.
Fighting fans can laugh and say kicking the football with iron-toed leather shoes can break all grappling techniques, but they will be very powerful if used well and even unbreakable in movies.
These are the working effects of martial arts instructors. Everyone knows how to play, but the problem is how to play well, which not everyone understands.
Americans have practiced grappling techniques for many years, but they are just muscular men hugging and rolling on the ground. If they want to show their beauty, they have to rely on Hong Kong's talents. This is the role of martial arts guidance.
"I can try to make a movie like this, but in terms of shooting technology and distribution issues..."
"Don't worry, if you need it, I can send someone to help you make a movie. If you shoot well, I will also help you contact distributors. Although my own company does not do distribution, it is not difficult for me to contact publishers."
Levi boldly promised, which is not perfunctory; if Sammo Hung does well, He could send someone to help.
If this industry continues and the martial arts moves are constantly updated, the vitality of this type of film will continue to continue — not to mention Sha Po Lang and Ip Man; even in Europe and the United States, films like Kill Bill still require martial arts guidance.
As long as the technology is good enough to produce exciting scenes, is there any need to be afraid that no one will watch such a movie?
Levi also really hopes that Sammo Hung can continue to do it: he wants to let Yuen Woo-ping follow him now, but he knows very well that if there are no new martial arts movements, then after ten years, these movements of Yuen Woo-ping will have nothing mysterious about it.
If you don't want the martial arts guidance industry to disappear, it is still necessary to support this movie.
Only the existence of this industry can make movies better, and Levi has no doubts about this. In Levi's view, he should be able to do something for the film industry.
"As for Mr. Hung wanting to go to Hollywood to shoot movies, it's actually not impossible. As far as I know, not many action movies are shot in Hollywood movies these years. Mr. Hung, you are indeed very capable. If you have the opportunity, I will definitely recommend you."
This is not an excuse: anyway, there are so many hero movies in Hollywood now, it will not be difficult to find him a job when the time comes. Of course, his size is not easy to match, but... you can't find such a flexible fat man anywhere else...
***
Of course, these things are issues that will be discussed later, and Levi is not in a hurry. He promised to help Sammo Hung, which is considered in place. The script of Infernal Affairs, one of the biggest goals of his trip, has already been obtained, so that's enough. The rest is the finishing touches on the Japanese side.
With the help of Sony, Japan has also made some breakthroughs in the issue of copyright acquisition. Although some influential works, such as Gunnm, are still unwilling to sell their copyrights, however, some other film copyrights, and some more partial authors, have agreed to sell their copyrights.
For example, Suzuki Koji, the original author of the movie "Midnight Ring" released last year, expressed his willingness to sell the North American film adaptation rights of his movie; the author of another novel "Paprika," which is said to have inspired Inception, Yasutaka Tsutsui, also expressed his willingness to sell the North American rights to his works.
As for manga, Urasawa Naoki, the author of "Monster," is willing to sell the copyright of his work, but because his work is not finished, he prefers to adapt it to a TV series rather than a movie. As for the completed manga, Junji Ito is the only one interested in selling the copyright...
"Anyway, his work can only be changed into a horror movie, which requires special effects, so he is interested in it."
In this regard, Levi also smiled bitterly. Few of the copyrights he acquired were particularly satisfactory. These works are either niche or difficult to shoot.
However, Levi was lucky in acquiring game copyrights: Capcom agreed to sell the adaptation rights of their own work Resident Evil. However, the sale contract had only the production rights, and distribution rights were sold to Sony. That's not surprising: Sony is a coward, after all, and it's not hard for them to do something.
However, having the production rights is not bad - the Resident Evil series can also be regarded as a series that can make money.
He is going to shoot Infernal Affairs right away. There are a lot of good actors in the movie, and the amount of money spent is also indispensable. So, it would be best to use the money from commercial movies to cover the cost.
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons
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