Chapter 763: District 9
After quickly skimming the script, Ronan fell into deep thought, because the plot described in the script was really familiar.
There are many movies about aliens in Hollywood, and the number of alien movies that Ronan has seen is countless, and the plots of many related movies are even confused.
Aliens have always been a major theme of Hollywood science fiction movies.
In Hollywood movies, aliens always come to the earth one after another. It seems that there is something special on the earth that can attract them, as if the earth is the center of the whole universe.
Aliens have invaded the earth again and again. Some are friendly and are willing to be "alien traitors" for the earth; some are warlike and will destroy the earth at every turn; God; there are also tens of thousands of light years away, who insist on coming to the earth to implement family planning...
The script that Ronan saw was somewhat different. The aliens described in the script made the earth a place for immigrants.
"This idea..." Ronan shook the script in his hand: "How did you think about it?"
Seeing Ronan's interest aroused, Neil Blomkamp Neil handed over another stack of drawings and said, "This is the design of some aliens I drew. They are like a group of interstellar refugees."
Ronan took it and looked at it, probably because of the visual effects work. Neil Blomkamp Neil's painting skills are very solid, the drawings are very detailed, and the arthropod-like aliens are lifelike.
Seeing the alien, which is far clearer than the short film, especially the prawn-like appearance, Ronan's confusing memory of the alien movie is becoming clearer little by little.
A film that was once included in the list of sci-fi films that earned a lot of money at a small cost gradually appeared in his memory.
Shrimp-like aliens have come to Earth to destroy the White House? No, this is Independence Day.
Johannesburg, Shrimp Man...
Neil Blomkamp Neil is answering Ronan's question just now: "I have watched many movies and stories about aliens since I was a child, such as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Alien" and In "Alien", human beings always have a very rich imagination of alien life, but I think that in many alien-related themes, aliens always represent a kind of power or cultural conflict that people on earth cannot match. It is impossible to integrate into one, and go their separate ways.”
He glanced at Ronan, saw that Ronan was listening, and continued: "So since then, I have been thinking, if one day, many aliens from other planets also immigrated to the earth, their technology and Human beings are similar, knowledge and language have not changed much, but they are far from human beings in appearance, what kind of changes will happen to the society in which human beings live at this time, and what will human beings do?"
Neil Blomkampnier scratched his head and said with a smile: "With this in mind, I shot the short film "Aliens in Johannesburg", which mainly tells about human society in this state. In fact, my original plan It is to shoot a feature film, but due to various restrictions, it can never become a reality, so this short film puts a lot of ideas on me, and the short film also makes my thinking clearer, which is why I have the script."
Ronan put down the drawing, looked at the script again, and said, "Neil, how do you plan to make this film?"
"To highlight the theme of apartheid, this will be a Kafka "Metamorphosis"-like story!" Neil Blomkampnier said without hesitation: "In order to appear authentic,
To shoot in a pseudo-documentary style, I only need about 30 million US dollars..."
Probably stayed by James Cameron's side all year round and got used to high investment. In Neil Blomcam's mind, it seems that 30 million US dollars is not a high film investment.
Ronan didn't speak, and looked through the script again, and then asked Neil Blomkamp Neil again about his thoughts on filming, and gradually settled down.
Mock-documentary-style sci-fi movies, prawn-like aliens, and Kafka-style metamorphosis. The plots of these movies about aliens are all stacked together. Ronan is roughly sure that this should be the "Part 1" District Nine.
I really can't remember the specific plot of the movie very clearly, and the script in my hand, the plot in some places is quite different from the part of the movie I can still remember, which may be related to the first draft of the script.
"ninth District"?
The plot of the movie hardly impressed Ronan. Now that I think of this movie, and then recall the relevant content, I remember more, but it is similar to "The Blair Witch". It seems that this is a typical viral marketing successful movie.
Just now Neil Blomkamp himself mentioned that he intends to shoot this film in a pseudo-documentary way.
In this way, the film naturally has the basis of viral marketing.
If Ronan remembers correctly, this will be a sci-fi movie whose marketing is bigger than the movie itself. Maybe this movie was not so much the success of the movie itself as another victory of viral marketing.
Of course, the quality of "The Ninth District" is much better than that of "The Blair Witch".
Neil Blomkamp Neil looked at Ronan and wanted to say something, but when he saw that Ronan was thinking, he shut his mouth and kept quiet.
Because years of experience in Hollywood told Neil Blom Campnell that the choice is in the hands of Ronan, an investor and producer, rather than him, a rookie director who has never made any official feature films. hand.
Ronan quickly made a decision: "Neil, I'll accept the script first, and I'll let Shahai Entertainment send someone over to discuss specific cooperation matters with you later."
Neil Blomkamp Neil said a little urgently: "Mr. Anderson, I am very honored to be able to cooperate with Sand Sea Entertainment, but my script..., I...I want to direct..."
"I just watched the short film you made." Ronan judged through the short film: "The filming is very good. You have a talent for directing. If we can reach a cooperation, you can also be the director."
Neil Blomkamp Neil's face was full of surprises, which was the best result he could have hoped for.
Ronan changed his voice: "But there are some things I have to say first. First, the investment of this project will not be very large. Second, this project may take a while to prepare. Third, your filming and production It must cooperate with Relativity Entertainment's specially customized publicity and marketing promotion plan..."
Saying this one by one is extremely restrictive to the director's power.
Especially in conjunction with publicity and marketing promotion, it is almost certain that the guidelines for the film are mainly publicity and promotion.
In Hollywood, directors, especially new directors, who can get a lot of power? Neil Blomkamp Neil has been in the industry for many years, and he is not surprised or dissatisfied.
"I have no problem." Neil Blomkamp Neil said directly: "I still have to work on the "Avatar" crew, and even if I leave, I will seek the advice of Director Cameron. I have considered other aspects, Anderson Sir, I have always felt that the promotion you used on "The Blair Witch" is a stroke of genius, and I plan to shoot it in the form of a pseudo-documentary because of this consideration."
Ronan nodded lightly: "Specifically how to cooperate, someone from Shahai Entertainment and Embassy Pictures will come to talk to you."
Neil Blomkamp Neil knew that Ronan would not care about this kind of specific work now, and said: "Okay, I will stay in Wellington and Weta Studios recently."
Ronan got the contact information of Neil Blomkamp Neal and left the office. After seeing Connie, he told Connie about the relevant matters and asked Connie to notify George Clint to send someone over to talk to Neil. Will - Blom Campnier talk about specific cooperation.
Goodbye James Cameron, James Cameron didn't talk about it again.
Obviously, he is only responsible for referrals.
For a director at the level of James Cameron, it can be said that he is a very conscientious superior who can provide his subordinates with a chance to recommend.
In the business circle, more superiors like to suppress the employees below for a lifetime.
Even, some bosses will take the initiative to provoke the relationship between the employees below, causing conflicts among the employees in order to better control.
Like James Cameron, who can recommend his employees, the most typical representative of Hollywood is Spielberg.
Apart from the necessary businessman qualities to sit at the head of DreamWorks, Ronan felt more and more that Spielberg was closer to a good person in the traditional sense.
Ronan stayed in Wellington for three days. During this period, he took time to chat with the relevant directors of Industrial Light & Magic and Weta Studios. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know special effects production, but he must grasp the dynamics of the crew’s general direction.
The investment in this film project is huge, and the return is equally huge, so Ronan can't help but pay attention to it.
Ronan also had a special chat with Andy Serkis, who was the director of motion capture. The former Hollywood "king of motion capture" did have a lot of ideas in motion capture. It also made him more interested in this industry.
It's a pity that Ronan can't find other suitable projects for Andy Serkis for the time being.
Moreover, Andy Serkis entered the "Avatar" crew, and in the next two or three years, he will not have time to think about other film work.
While Ronan was leaving, a three-member team from Sandsea Entertainment arrived in Wellington to begin formal negotiations with Neil Blomcamnier about the film project.
Preparations for "Avatar" began, and Ronan prepared "Alice in Wonderland" which borrowed the 3D style of "Avatar" and also completed the first draft of the script.
This is a fantasy adventure fairy tale. At Ronan's request, the script highlighted the theme of all age groups, and strived to make future films a pg-level family carnival.
A pg-level family carnival movie can also face a wider audience and fully ferment the heat brought by the 3D wave.