Chapter 1858: 1858 Halfway Dark Horse

No wonder Shirley is so confident. Even putting aside other additional factors, Hugo will definitely be interested in "The Truman Show".

Hugo is well known for his protection of his private life. He has always refused to let the details of his private life become the talk of people after dinner. Not to mention, Hugo's attitude can be seen just from the emotional stories that have been raging recently. Hugo has always rejected over-exposure, over-hype, and over-publicity by the media, even to the point of disgust. Once the media invades his private life, Hugo will definitely fight back by all means.

It can be said that Hugo's resistance to "entertainment to death" is clearly visible, and this is vividly reflected in the media's contact with Hugo.

Now, "The Truman Show" vividly reflects the terrible reality of this society, turning Hugo's greatest resistance into reality, and clearly criticizing the greed, utilitarianism and cruelty of society.

In the past few years, especially after "Speed" and "Pulp Fiction" have created brilliance, Hugo is the "Truman" in the real society, which makes Hugo empathize with the whole story. The core idea of ​​this work can easily arouse Hugo's inner resonance.

What's more, "The Truman Show" unexpectedly presents this cruel story in a comic way, making the chilling reality even more ironic.

Hugo has always been eager to try comedy, which is no secret in Hollywood. Rick has collected comedy scripts for Hugo many times, but it is a pity that excellent comedy scripts are always very rare, and comedy scripts that can really inspire people are even rarer. meet.

Now, "The Truman Show" can be said to have almost everything, from the comedy theme to the script itself, to Peter Weir in charge of the director, not to mention Shirley's sincerity, it is conceivable that moving Hugo is only It's just a matter of time.

Therefore, even though she knew that Hugo was preparing for "Perfection", Shirley still confidently cooperated with Peter to find her, and even Rick didn't stop her.

To be honest, "The Truman Show" is one of Hugo's favorite works, and it has been so before time travel, not to mention that after he has experienced everything in the past few years, Hugo can empathize even more. He knows that this is the inevitable progress of the commodity society, and the era of entertainment to death is unstoppable, and he himself is a part of the entertainment industry, but even so, Hugo still opposes the behavior of treating artists as commodities It is a terrible thing to deprive artists of their freedom and dignity as human beings and treat them as lifeless and personalityless commodities.

In history, "The Truman Show" has aroused heated discussions in the society, and its leading actor Jim Carrey has established himself as the king of comedy by relying on this work, because in the movie, he not only dedicated comedy The performance elevates comedy to the level of drama, endows it with profound meaning, and triggers real soul resonance behind people's laughter. Throughout history, there are only a handful of comedians who can reach such heights.

But it is a pity that "The Truman Show" has not really received corresponding recognition. Not only has it not received any affirmation from the Oscars, but King has not even been nominated for Best Actor. For this, Hugo has always felt very regretful. Although it is estimated that it will be difficult to win the award even if Jin is nominated, Hugo thinks that Oscar should give Jin an affirmation, and it should give comedy affirmation-because everyone knows that comedy It shouldn't be just a sideshow to make people laugh. Behind the fact that Oscar is only willing to award art films such as plots and biographies, it is the sadness of the decline of comedy themes-the miracle of "Annie Hall" has been sealed in history forever.

The only good thing is that the audience did not bury this work, and "The Truman Show" firmly occupied a place on the top 250 list of IMDB.

Hugo had to admit that Shirley hit him, hit him hard, and even with "As Good as It Gets" in hand, Hugo was still tempted by "The Truman Show".

"If you want, we can sit down and talk about the idea of ​​the character." Peter said sincerely, "I know that you must have many ideas of your own about the characters and the script, and we need yours. After all, there are not many top superstars who can truly become the focus of the world's attention like you."

Facing Peter's praise, Hugo laughed, "Peter, you made me feel ecstatic."

"I'm already curious about what Hugo will look like in a comedy." Shirley saw the timing, and said joking words with a smile, "To be honest, I can't imagine now, because "Death Row Walking" It was really impressive.”

The smile on the corner of Hugo's mouth remained unchanged, but the words he said were different, "However, I've been busy with my own script recently, so I'm not sure if the schedule will work, it's really a tricky choice , isn't it?"

After going through so many storms, Hugo is not a fool. He knows that Shirley deliberately killed someone by surprise today, obviously for a purpose, and things are definitely not that simple. Not to mention that Hugo really must put "perfection" first, even if it wasn't the case, Hugo wouldn't immediately nod on the spot, he still had to discuss with Rick before making a decision.

Shirley didn't have any special expression, she still had a calm smile on her face, but Peter's slightly astonished expression could still tell his surprise, but Peter didn't try to hide it, and said with a smile, "It's like As I said, every screenwriter cherishes his own work extremely. Otherwise, I will leave the script first, you can read it carefully, and then we can discuss it, how about it?"

"It's an honor for me. No actor would dislike an excellent script too much." Hugo agreed without being polite, and nodded.

Shirley, Peter and the others sat for another half an hour before taking their leave. Before leaving, Peter said earnestly, "Hugo, believe me, no one is more suitable for this script than you. I hope there will be sparks between you and the script. Then this is my greatest achievement."

After seeing off the group of guests, Rick looked at Hugo and showed a wry smile, "They came directly to Malibu today, they called me on the way and asked if you were home, I can catch up, obviously they The result of deliberate slowing down."

Hugo was slightly surprised, "So, what happened?"

"I don't know the ins and outs. I only got this script three days ago. I am still reviewing and reading it. I think you should like it, but... I still want to be more cautious. Messed up my plan." Rick simply explained, "I don't know much at the moment, and I guess part of the reason comes from the chain reaction triggered by your script. There are rumors that Sony Columbia Pictures is willing to work for you. The investment in the project is US$100 million.”

When Rick's words came out, Hugo burst out laughing, "This is good news for me", but both Hugo and Rick knew that this was completely false news, without any truth at all. , "I believe Shirley will definitely not believe this news, but behind this is the trust of Wall Street investors in you. They think you can bring more profits..."

Rick wanted to continue explaining, but then he realized that Hugo didn't like these things, so he stopped, changed the subject and said, "Just now Shirley didn't get the chance to introduce this work to you, in fact, Pella Meng’s budget for this work is already as high as 60 million U.S. dollars.” This made Hugo’s eyes widen in surprise, because “The Truman Show” is almost a movie of one scene, and all the plots took place in the studio. So he couldn't imagine that this work would need to invest so much money, even more exaggerated than the "as good as it gets" budget.

Rick nodded with a smile, "This is also my first reaction when I heard the news. This is probably the most expensive literary film ever. For this reason, they have been in contact with top directors, Tim Burton , Brian. De. Palma (Brian. De. Palma), Terry Gilliam, etc., including Spielberg, they also talked about it, and finally confirmed Peter Weir, hoping that the director can control I won this super high-investment work."

"Who was the actor they decided on before?" Hugo immediately got to the point. In fact, directors and actors are the same thing. Paramount invested 60 million US dollars, and naturally they don't want to waste money, so their choices must be cautious. This is why Rick specifically mentioned Wall Street's trust in him just now.

"Jim Carrey." Rick's answer was concise and clear, which was the expected answer, not to mention that Kim is currently the only actor in Hollywood other than Hugo who has received a salary of 20 million US dollars. When it comes to comedians, Kim is the best of the best. Paramount's choice is very logical.

And, historically, "The Truman Show" was starred by King.

"But just now Peter said that the project has been stalled for a year, what happened?" Logically speaking, the director and the actor have been selected, and the project funds have been in place, so the project can be launched smoothly.

"I don't know much about the details. I only know that there are some problems with Jin's schedule, and there are some disputes within Paramount about the choice of actors. I thought I would have some time to do a careful investigation, but Xue Li suddenly chose to visit today, obviously there is a reason, I need to investigate again." After all, Rick is not omnipotent, he can only shrug his shoulders regretfully, "But I believe that the reason is nothing more than the distribution of benefits That's all, it's not a big problem, the most important thing is your opinion... So, are you interested in this script?"