"Are you addicted to buying scripts from Asia? Or are you doing this to take care of the grand theme you mentioned?" Hearing Levi mention Asia again, Alexander immediately thought of something.
Sometimes sci-fi movies need to pay attention to a racial issue: because they often appear in the image of 'human beings,' since they are all human beings, they cannot just be white people. That is why, in Star Trek, there are Asians and blacks in the main crew.
Sometimes, sci-fi movies have to do this. People of different races and civilizations have to be cast in the roles. If the theme is grand, the scale must also be grand.
"There are considerations in this regard. If I shoot a sci-fi movie, I will definitely need actors from all races with considerable acting skills," Levi said. "And it would be preferable if I could obtain actors from their respective countries of origin."
For example, Chinese actors in Hollywood can't speak Mandarin or Cantonese fluently. Americans may think that the actors they recruited are of Chinese descent, but in fact, such actors cannot attract Chinese audiences at all.
"So, what kind of work are you talking about? I can only think of Gundam or Ghost in the Shell from Asia." After thinking for a while, Alexander got only these two answers.
There are not many sci-fi works in Japan, and even then, only a few can meet the points mentioned by Levi.
For example, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, etc., although they can be called very good themes, they are too far away from the word science. The latter is basically a steampunk thing, far from reality. At the same time, the former has zombies, and it has nothing to do with science at all.
If there are zombies in the world that can work infinitely without any power source, it is not a crisis; it is simply a new energy without loss, a new hope for mankind. That kind of thing can be used to shoot commercial films, but what about science fiction? Alexander believed that was not what Levi wanted.
In fact, Alexander is not familiar with science fiction works and does not know what kind of works Gundam and Ghost in the Shell are. But he knows these two works are known to many people in the United States and are highly respected, so when Levi mentioned he needed actors from Asia, he naturally thought of these two works.
But his question only made Levi smile bitterly, "Do you think it's possible? Are the copyrights of those two works so easy to buy?"
Sure enough, they didn't buy them. Alexander shrugged and did not say anything. He thought about it, it seemed that the copyright of Gundam was in the hands of Cameron, and the copyright of Ghost in the Shell was in DreamWorks.
If Levi didn't buy it, it's not beyond his expectation, "Then what do you want to shoot?"
"I saw a good science fiction writer's work when I was in Asia, and I think he can write what I want...."
Works by Asian writers?
If this had been said before, Alexander might just sneer: Where can there be good enough works in Asia? Unless it is recognized by the whole world, like Ghost in the Shell, Alexander refuses to believe that there will be good works in Asia.
But now, Enigma had just finished filming The Infernal Affairs, and he had a change of heart. He also has to admit that some good works indeed exist in Asia. Therefore, he was not in a hurry to laugh.
"Yes. Works by Asian writers. I have some short stories. I can show you when I get back to the company."
"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go back now." Alexander immediately said firmly, "I don't want to delay a second for a big investment movie that can make money!"
***
"Are you sure the person who wrote this is really an electrician?" Starting the novel in hand, Alexander asked with a slightly surprised tone.
He never thought that a novel written by an Asian electrician would shock him — if an American wrote such an excellent novel, he could accept it, but foreigners... Alexander was a little surprised.
"I'm sure." Levi smiled; although he knew the writer was not an electrician, he was in no mood to reveal it. It was fun to watch Alexander startled.
Sitting opposite him, Levi said, "The writing is not bad, right? I asked someone to translate it for me. The translation level is very high, and the polishing is not bad..."
Alexander waved his hand and gestured to Levi not to speak yet.
Regarding Alexander's attitude, Levi just smiled: he understood Alexander's attitude very well: he dared to show it to Alexander because he believed that Alexander would be moved.
Now, as expected, after flipping through the novel Levi handed him, it took a long time for Alexander to let out a sigh of relief.
"No wonder you want him to write something... I found that this work, and the subject matter of your movie, can be similar. Wandering earth, approaching confused human beings in loneliness, this is what you said is more grand. Shouldn't you be obsessed with the loneliness of one or two people but raise this loneliness to the level of the loneliness of all human beings?"
If it is said that when Levi just talked about science fiction films, Alexander still didn't understand Levi's thoughts, looking at the things in his hand, Alexander also somewhat understood Levi's thoughts.
In the past, although Levi's movies also focused on the universal loneliness that everyone has, this kind of mood is a bit too delicate, and it always makes people feel sad but not dense enough.
However, if this kind of thinking is connected with the fate of the whole human being so that the lonely person is no longer an individual, but the humans as a whole, then the theme of Levi's film can be deepened a lot at once.
The loneliness of human beings must correspond to the vastness of the universe; lonely human beings will inevitably explore the universe, and those who feel lonely will inevitably have pessimistic emotions.
No story can move people more than tragedy.
Those seemingly slender things in the original theme of Levi's film have become extremely dense and magnificent under this background.
No wonder Spielberg said that the future direction of film development is to write about things in the universe - the eyes of great directors are always different.
"It's really rare you were able to find such a work. You must have put a lot of thought into it, right?"
Alexander's question just made Levi smile, but he didn't speak. In his previous life, he had already read Liu Cixin's book; how difficult is it to find him?
Of course, it cannot be said that there is no difficulty at all: he was not an avid book fan before, and he is not very familiar with Liu Cixin. After hearing about this matter, he realized that Liu Cixin had just published two short stories at that time.
Until 2000, among his works, Levi felt that the only ones that could catch his eye were the just-published Inferno and The Wandering Earth. However, as long as one or two short films are published, it does not prevent Levi from finding him, expressing his appreciation for him, and hoping that he will write a feature-length film.
Of course, the appreciation Levi mentioned was not nonsense — he asked someone to bring a contract to Liu Cixin and told him clearly that he hoped that he would write a novel with the basic idea provided by himself, and Levi would pay for it.
In Levy's memory, although Liu Cixin's works are good, his income has not been very good. Anyway, this little money is nothing to Levi, and spending a little money on him is no big deal.
He doesn't want to wait for many years to see these works. It relieves his worries and allows him to start writing novels earlier, which is also beneficial.
He can't get Ghost in the Shell, and Gunmen, so it's better to train sci-fi writers to write sci-fi scripts - as a time traveler, why shouldn't he grab them before they become famous?
"Nick, I have to admit, this novel is good. But, a writer who has just written science fiction for a year or two? Even if his writing is really good, I still think it's too hasty. Isn't making a movie with this kind of writer's work a little risky?"
Alexander already understood Levi's idea that what he considered was shooting a movie. With this in mind, he had some excited thoughts just now, and he quickly expressed them, and he also began to think about practical issues - let a writer who has only written a few short stories write scripts and make movies for himself.
This is a movie with a possible investment of hundreds of millions, not just talk.
"I didn't say I would shoot a movie right away — what did I contact the TV station for? Isn't it to shoot a TV series? Of course, it's impossible to shoot a movie right now.
And I'm not even sure if this will be a high-rated TV series. So I am looking for cooperation with SYFY. Their TV ratings are low, and I dare to put the script on them to try."
Levi's answer stunned Alexander for a long time, and after a while, he sighed, "If that's the case, it's better..."
He actually forgot that he came to Levi not because Levi wanted to shoot a movie but because Levi was contacting SYFY TV to shoot a science fiction drama.
For a person like Levi, how could he break ground without making sufficient preparations?
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons
Scott DePaepe
MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999
Britanna
Mandy G
The Main Man
Marcelo Maia
Danny York
You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.