Levi expressed support for Nolan's desire to film Inception. Although he didn't know whether Nolan would still be as successful as he remembered if the time had advanced a few years, Levi chose to believe in his self-confidence.
And now that he is preparing for that movie, there is a new problem here.
Now that Nolan is no longer filming X-Men, Levi naturally has to find a new director to direct this movie. The first name that came to his mind was Bryan Singer - after all, he was the one who directed this movie in his memory, so there was nothing wrong with him directing it.
However, reality quickly shattered this idea: Bryan Singer was more interested in Warner's Superman Returns than X-Men.
This result made Levi feel helpless: in his memory, this guy was a Superman fan and quit filming X-Men to direct Superman Returns. It is no surprise now that he prefers Superman Returns and refuses to film X-Men.
Levi could only accept this result, and after he refused, Levi quickly thought of another person: Stephen Sommers, who seemed to be relaxing at home now.
This director is also very famous and has made many successful movies. However, among his films, there are both successful series of movies like The Mummy and less successful ones like Deep Rising and Van Helsing.
Van Helsing, released in 2004, had an investment of 160 million but only received 120 million at the North American box office, damaging his reputation. During this period, no one asked him to film.
However, Levi feels that his movies are still okay. The problem with his movies is that they are too imaginative and fantastical, but he is still very good in terms of commercial elements. If some restrictions are placed on him, and he is not allowed to make the movie too ridiculous and bizarre, he can achieve results.
The filming of The Mummy was a collaboration between him and Universal after the less successful Deep Rising. The script was co-written with five screenwriters, making it much better. Since Universal could restrict him, Levi could do the same.
It should be okay to let him take over.
Choosing directors for other films of his company is also what a film company boss should do. Moreover, his affairs are not limited to this.
He also has to consider letting actors with a good relationship with him act in some roles.
But what kind of drama should these actors act in, and how do they best benefit him? This is also a problem that gives Levi some headaches.
In fact, when Levi saw Brokeback Mountain winning this year, he was also thinking about this problem: the impact of some things he did in his early years seems to have already produced a butterfly effect, and this effect will only get bigger and bigger.
By next year, there is no way that another Departed film will come out to win awards. If old Martin wants to win awards, he has to shoot something else - although, given his qualifications, he only needs to shoot a gangster movie that he is good at. And if the shooting level is above the standard, winning the award in this environment is almost possible. But will Martin Scorsese be able to shoot anything above that level? That's a problem.
In addition, this year's Crash didn't win any awards, so will next year's Babel attract so many people like Brad Pitt to participate? Without celebrities, will it still attract attention? This is also a problem. Furthermore, The Lives of Others has already been released. What will be the best foreign language film next year? Will Pan's Labyrinth win an award? Or will other movies appear to compete with it?
These questions are now beginning to emerge. If, in the past, Levi could take a good movie and compete with movies of a quality he knew, then his trouble now is that he has no idea what level other movies will be shot at.
Moreover, as time passed, he started having some other problems. Even if he wants to write more scripts, who knows if these scripts have already been drafted? In this regard, he can no longer act arbitrarily.
However, although these things cannot be messed up, it does not mean that he can't do anything. He can still do it by buying the rights to adapt novels or relying on his memory to suggest others to star in some successful movies.
Moreover, there were some movies that he was sure that the original author would not be able to write about, but he also dared to write about them. For example, while he was directing movies, he wrote the draft of Midnight in Barcelona; all that was left was polishing.
This script was originally written by Woody Allen, who is very skilled in scriptwriting. However, one of the very distinctive features of Woody Allen's movies is that many of his movies are made based on the characteristics of a certain heroine.
In his memory, while Scarlett Johansson was working with him, he wrote the novel Midnight Barcelona. However, now that Scarlett Johansson has not cooperated with him, it is naturally unlikely that he will write this novel.
For such talented people, the purpose of writing is to please beautiful women. But the prerequisite for flattery is that the beautiful woman is by their side. If the beautiful woman is far away, they will be too lazy to write anything.
Moreover, while Levi was filming, he also heard that it seemed that another Hollywood star, Anne Hathaway, was now very close to Woody Allen.
Hathaway's career development can be said to be a complete tragedy. After becoming famous after playing Princess Diaries, she went further and further down the road. Although she works hard enough and is serious enough, she always exerts too much force in everything she does. There seem to be some problems with her performance and career planning.
Although she also participated in Brokeback Mountain and performed well, her role can only be said to be a side note in this scene. And she is also working hard for her own career. It just so happens that Woody Allen doesn't have a suitable movie girl now. Hathaway worked hard to fight for it, and they can be said to hit it off.
He heard that Woody Allen has now decided to shoot a movie for her, but they will shoot the film in New York instead of Europe - obviously, Hathaway's temperament and style differ from Scarlett's. She has more of a silly American temperament. She can't relate to the European atmosphere, so Woody Allen chose New York as the stage for the movie.
For a truly talented person like him, the works written for different people are, of course, completely different. Scarlett and Hathaway are two different people, and the works they write are naturally different.
Although his story is probably still about a romantic love affair between a man and a woman, the story is completely different when the protagonist is changed.
And this also allowed Levi to leave the script of Midnight Barcelona to Scarlett.
X-Men 3 has been filmed, and she hasn't found any good script yet. In Levi's memory, she collaborated with Woody Allen, but now she did not go to Woody Allen. Moreover, he remembered that she filmed The Island, but Michael Bay went to film Batman; these butterfly effects meant she didn't have a good script to accept.
Naturally, her solution was to ask Levi for help, and Levi wrote the script. Of course, he is not going to shoot it himself. He can just find a director to direct it.
And Levi's choice was Sofia Coppola.
In this world, Sofia Coppola did not film Lost in Translation. Although she still divorced Spike Jonze and embarked on the path of director and filmed some other movies, her influence was slightly less, making her not that famous.
Because she does not have enough fame, it is now impossible for her to obtain the investment amount for the movie Marie Antoinette, as Levi remembered. Filming some movies with a relatively small investment is still her main job.
As a female director, the portrayal of delicate emotions and female psychology in her films is very good, and she can well portray female characters. Levi was very relieved when she came to direct Scarlett's movie.
In addition, in his opinion, some other movies adapted from novels or movies based on real stories can also be tried. For example, he can use Changeling, which is based on real events, or some other movies based on novels.
Levi cannot guarantee that he will always be able to write a good script, but he can definitely guarantee that by following his actors, he can choose better films than the choices he remembers, which will help their careers. At the very least, Levi wouldn't let someone he knew well take on some crappy movie that could win a Razzie.
Moreover, he also has such ability.
In Levi's memory, Hollywood movies have faced trouble with scripts since the late part of the first decade of the 21st century.
Now, this situation has begun to emerge: because the income from script writing is nothing compared to commercial blockbusters, people who seriously study scripts might as well write TV drama scripts to make money.
This led to the decline of Hollywood movie scripts. More and more biopics and novel adaptations are flooding the market, beginning to crowd out the stage for original films.
Compared with its former glory, this has to be said to be a step back.
However, this setback is a good thing for Levi. After all, he can seize more scripts and get more opportunities in such an environment.
However, there is no need to rush to shoot these movies. If memory serves correctly, Whitaker and Helen Miller will take away next year's Best Actor and Actress, the two biographies of The Last King of Scotland and The Queen. Biography movies will be the mainstream tone next year, and competing with those two actors will be quite difficult.
Therefore, these movies can be invested in and filmed later, so there is no need to rush. Moreover, maybe after Levi finishes filming The Three-Body Problem 2, his reputation will reach a higher level. He may make greater profits by making these movies when the time comes.
He has great confidence in this.
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons
Marcelo Maia
Britanna
Mandy G
Scott DePaepe
Oluwatimileyin Olayemi
Herylle Ian Gloria
You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.