When the Cannes Film Festival was coming to an end, Alexander rushed from the United States to Europe to promote Fight Club. When he found Levi's leisurely life in Europe at this time, it made him quite depressed.
"You are the boss of our company. Why are you so indifferent to your company's movies?" Alexander really didn't understand that Levi didn't care about the movie's participation in the evaluation. "If our movie won the award, there will be a lot of benefits. Why are you living here so leisurely again!"
"What's the big deal? Brad Pitt and Edward Norton's acting has already guaranteed the movie's box office, so what else do you need to worry about? What's a Palme d'Or worth?" Levi didn't take Alexander's attitude seriously, "Besides, I'm not idle. I've been working actively during this period, okay?"
"Are you saying you bought scripts during this period? Well, I would like to hear which story you bought."
Alexander knew Levi was very concerned about buying other people's copyrights when he came to Europe.
He claimed to be working; he said he bought a lot of copyrights. This made Alexander feel a lot calmer. He knew that the story Levi liked was definitely not bad.
"Okay, I'll just show it to you..." Levi nodded, "I bought the right to adapt a novel - this is Yann Martel's new novel, Life of Pi. It is adapted from the real-life incident of Richard Parker's shipwreck and cannibalism in 1884. This story is very interesting. However, the movie cannot be filmed for the time being."
The original novel of the story of Pi was published in 2001. As soon as the novel was published, Levi immediately bought the rights to adapt it.
Although Yann Martel is Canadian, and Levi is an American, this does not prevent them from using the Cannes Awards venue as a place for them to buy and sell script adaptation rights.
Cannes itself is a venue that plays this role, and people do a lot of transactions here.
The original author, Yann Martel, expressed great concerns about the film adaptation rights. He did not think that the existing technology could perfectly present his novel. And Levi told him directly. He could wait until the technology was complete. This argument convinced him to sell the script.
"Why can't we make a movie?" Alexander asked puzzledly.
"I think this story might be better if it were shot in 3D."
Levi previously believed that 3D would be better used to shoot movies that are close to animation. As for the movie Life of Pi, it can be shot quite animated, so this movie is something he is ready to experiment with in the future.
At that time, maybe he will shoot it himself, or perhaps he will ask Ang Lee to shoot it; it doesn't matter.
"And then there's the autobiography that I took a fancy to, a memoir of a rich man called 'A Second Wind,'" Levi continued, "It tells the story of the friendship between a rich white man and the black servant who took care of him after he fell paralyzed after parachuting. I think this story is good, and I want to buy it."
Levi has seen the movie. The name of this movie is Intouchables, and it is a very excellent French movie. Levi remembers that when the movie aired, it was also a sensation.
It was even rumored at one point that the film might win an Oscar. Because France and the United States have different attitudes toward black people, the French view it as a movie that breaks racial barriers. It was sued for racial discrimination in the United States, making it impossible for this film to win awards.
Now, Levi has bought the script and believes he will avoid making such mistakes in his adaptation.
Of course, it is quite troublesome to buy this story.
Although Philippe Pozzo di Borgo has been paralyzed since 1993, he is still the director of Champagne Pommery, a subsidiary of LVMH, and he does not lack money.
The requirement for this film is not to make money but to shoot well - in fact, he originally wanted to make a documentary - he is so willful when he has money.
[A/N: There is indeed a documentary version of Intouchables from 2004.]
Of course, Levi could obviously satisfy this request. With Levi's name, when he said he wanted to make a movie, he agreed.
"It seems that black people have been having a violent racial movement recently, and Hollywood has been affected a lot. Why are you planning to get involved?"
Alexander knew that the power of black people in Hollywood seemed to have increased significantly recently. Within a year, several Films starring black actors are bidding for the Oscars.
The film industry is not an independent world. They also have to be influenced by the outside world. This year may really be the year for black people to be proud.
"No, I don't mean to follow the trend. I don't have enough time and don't think I can find an actor with better acting skills than Denzel Washington. Since I promised the original author to shoot well, I won't join in this when it is so lively." Levi shook his head.
"If you don't want to shoot these two stories, then you must have a better script?" Alexander continued to ask.
"Yes, I did find another script this time... This script was also sold to me by a French director." Levi said, taking out a script from his hand and handing it over. "This 'Les Choristes' is based on the 1945 film A Cage of Nightingales. This movie was also a movie Levi had watched in his previous life — one of his favorite movies.
However, in his memory, this movie only appeared in 2004. He did not expect that in 2001, its original author had not even entered the director's profession and was only doing odd jobs in his uncle's film company. The movie script has already been written at this time.
Moreover, what surprised Levi even more was that the original author did not put much effort into producing this script.
This was produced as a musical not because the director likes music so much, but because if there are a lot of choruses and music in the film, it can save the cost of the film and make the movie not too expensive...
It seems embarrassing, but this is actually the reality of European movies. Because Europeans don't have much money for movies, they always have to consider cost issues when filming.
For example, what Levi didn't know about this movie was that during the filming, the source of the cost was that the starring actor and producer
Gérard Jugnot had to sell his house in Paris.
The European film industry has always faced this relatively poor predicament, even though there are also top film masters like Luc Besson here.
Luc Besson never went to Hollywood in his life and completed the production of films such as The Fifth Element and Léon: The Professional in Europe.
However, for most European films, generally speaking, they are still relatively poor.
Therefore, when Levi proposed that the original author of the movie sell the movie script to him, he agreed without much hesitation.
Although he was initially planning to make a movie with this script, after selling the script, he would have the money to buy the rights to adapt his favorite novel, which satisfied him.
He didn't realize how good the movie was, but someone could see it.
Alexander flipped through the script with some surprise on his face. This script has not yet been completed.
The biggest flaw is that the music that should be included has not yet been produced. The original author is not a versatile person. He does not know how to write music.
There are still many vacancies in these places, and Levi is also waiting to go back and ask Yann Tiersen to complete it. However, this movie is impressive enough, even if you only look at the completed parts.
"This script, as long as you find the music and you can film it well, it will definitely be a good-looking work."
Alexander expressed his attitude to Levi very solemnly. He originally thought that if Levi's movies could not be judged for awards and he did not want to make high-box-office movies, they would easily be nondescript and unsuccessful. However, he did not expect that Levi would be able to find such an excellent movie script.
This time, when he came to Europe, he gained a lot from these three scripts.
This movie is unlikely to win awards or do well at the box office, but no one can deny that it will be a good movie. Shooting a good-quality film with children is difficult, but it is easy to move people.
"I haven't figured out how to film it yet. I have never filmed a musical before, and there are too many things to prepare. I don't know if I can film this script for the time being. Maybe I'll shoot it myself, maybe I'll let someone else shoot it, it doesn't matter."
However, Levi's attitude surprised Alexander that he did not immediately prepare to shoot the movie.
"If you refuse to film such a good script, what exactly do you want to film?"
Alexander asked immediately. Three consecutive movies, all with good themes, but none of them were filmed, which surprised him at Levi's idea.
"Didn't I say it? I want to shoot a movie with Naomi starring. During these days, in addition to acquiring scripts, I am also writing the script myself. And the next thing I plan to film is naturally the script I wrote."
After saying this, Levi handed over a script again, and this time, Alexander also saw the name on the cover of the script.
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Is this movie your next one?"
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons
Scott DePaepe
MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999
Britanna
Marcelo Maia
Danny York
Mandy G
DragonEz
You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.