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Helming Hollywood (Fanfic)

Levin, who had experienced ups and downs in the entertainment industry in his previous life came to Hollywood in 1996 from 2014. It's a slow-paced novel. Unofficial translation of the novel by heracross. Raw version can be found at https://www.uukanshu.com/b/24330/. You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.

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Comedians

In Levi's memory, the movie "The Truman Show" was released in 1998. In March of this year, when he started shooting Emily, he also heard that the film's screenwriter, Andrew Niccol, was looking for investors for the film. Since then, he has been paying attention to this matter.

He liked this script very much, but negotiations were difficult.

However, Andrew Niccol's job of finding investors was not smooth. Because Levi brought the craze of reality shows to Hollywood early, and now everyone knows that reality shows make money, no one wants to shoot a movie mocking the reality show at this time. No one in Hollywood was willing to shoot the script, so in the end, Levi was able to buy the script into his own hands.

And now he's ready to shoot that movie.

Both of Levi's films were adapted from European films in his memory. Although, in his memory, there are still many European films that are considered good films, there is still time to talk about those films in the future. Now that the world of Truman is in his hands, this opportunity is very rare.

He can't always focus on plagiarising. Anyway, now that he is famous and some people are willing to sell his scripts to him, he should also try to make movies with other people's scripts. Levi doesn't think he can really just rely on copying a few movies in his memory. The media may call him a genius, but he still has a long way to go.

If you want long-term development, you should buy a lot of other people's scripts and then shoot your own movies.

Anyway, no one requires a director to be able to write scripts himself, and there are a lot of professional screenwriters in Hollywood doing these jobs, so why can't he buy suitable scripts as his own development path?

Therefore, he wanted to film the world of Truman: as a director, you have to keep exploring.

"The Truman Show? Are you sure you want to shoot that movie?" Leslie has also heard about this movie, but most of the information he heard about this movie is not good news, "Nick, maybe you don't know that this script has been written for a long time, but there is a reason why no one is willing to invest in the filming. The media is very dissatisfied with this subject..."

"I know. I know this." Levi interrupted.

As for Leslie, he knows that the movie The Truman Show because it has a very strong mocking attitude towards the media manipulating the audience; if it is not filmed properly, it is likely to cause dissatisfaction with the media and the film's attitude toward the reality show also dissatisfied the major TV stations that filmed the reality shows.

"It's just that I like the movie's script very much, and I can't give up eating it because I may choke. It may offend the media if some of the details are not handled well enough. I also think about how to discuss with Andrew Niccol and revise the script - I have no objection to the media's manipulation of public life at all; what I want to reflect is a person's mental journey and changes in his own life circle. And, Leslie, it's me; how could I be against reality TV?"

There is nothing wrong with this statement — Leslie suddenly remembered. The guy in front of him was the first to introduce reality shows from the UK to the United States. In this kind of movie that mocks the media by mocking reality shows he made, he will definitely not open fire at the media when he films it — no one will mock himself.

Just like blacks can scold blacks and Jews can tease Jews, when Levi scolds reality shows, no one else will think that he really hates reality TV.

Also, Levi said he would change the script, which also made Leslie's heart feel at ease. He knows Levi's ability - even in a script like The Lives of Others, he can try his best to downplay the political influence, focusing on the transformation of characters. It should be possible to make some modifications to The Truman Show to highlight the character of Truman instead of mocking the media.

However, how should this be done? Leslie can't figure it out. But he also knew that if he could figure it out, then he wouldn't have chosen to be a TV station manager; instead, he would decide to make a movie.

"Are you sure you can revise the script? It's not an easy task, and Andrew Niccol doesn't necessarily agree with you messing around."

Other people's scripts are troublesome: sometimes, the script's original author disagrees with the director's intention, so the two parties have to negotiate. One of the screenwriter union's important responsibilities is to protect the screenwriter's copyright. Without the original author's consent, this work cannot be done.

"No problem, I have already discussed it with him." Levi explained, "The changes I asked for are not many; just a little change can highlight the key points I want and won't uglify the image of the media too much."

Levi is still very confident about this: slightly modifying the movie's script, and using the lens differently during shooting, can make people have entirely different ideas.

"If you are all ready, then it's up to you. Just be careful. If you anger the media, even CBS will have a hard time helping you." Leslie reminded again, and then he went back to the original topic, "You want Jim Carrey to play this movie? Why him?"

Since Levi wanted to make this movie, Leslie didn't think too much about the script adaptation of this movie. And if there is no problem with the script, then the rest is the actors. Although it is reasonable to say that this has nothing to do with Leslie, Leslie also wants to know what Levi thinks before he thinks of going to Jim Carrey.

Levi's filmmaking still has high requirements for actors, and in Leslie's view, Jim Carrey is still far from the top actors.

In the performing arts industry all over the world, there has always been a relatively consistent view: the acting skills of comedians are inferior to those of drama actors.

There is some truth to such a theory. There is a saying in the industry: if you want to make people laugh, then people's behavior, language, and even logical thinking must all be distorted and exaggerated.

The story in the movie is written in an absurd and distorted way, so no one will take it seriously - no one will think the story of cat and mouse is true - but, in the theater performance, if the acting is also wildly exaggerated, and every word and deed all contain absurd and twisted meanings, it is easy to make people doubt their acting skills.

Although madness is an inevitable requirement for comedy, people often have this kind of question: if a person has performed too many comedies and his acting skills have been distorted, can he still act in a drama?

Most comedians give people the impression that they are neurotic, and their speech and demeanor are so exaggerated that they make people laugh at first sight. Such an actor acting in a serious drama gave the impression that it was too awkward. This kind of thinking has caused a unique consequence: when many comedians are at the peak of their careers, they are suspected of being unable to act but only playing clowns on the screen. But when they are too old to act, people will miss them again and call them unrecognized acting masters; from Chaplin onwards, this is the fate of comedy masters.

And now Jim Carrey is at the peak of his career. Now he has a film salary of more than 20 million, which belongs to the highest-paid actor, and almost every film is a highly anticipated comedy masterpiece. Any work will attract a frenzy at the box office. However, he is not exempt from this kind of bad luck. At least the American film industry does not greatly recognize his acting skills. In addition, he is a Canadian and is not liked by Hollywood. Therefore, people regard him more as a clown.

If Tom Cruise is suspected of lacking acting skills because he is too handsome, he is accused of lacking acting skills because he is too good at a certain kind of performance. Comedians come across as out of touch with their neurotic, exaggerated mannerisms.

There is a lot of market for such a statement, but Levi doesn't quite agree.

"Leslie, comedians have the good qualities of comedians, and you have to find comedians to act in this play. There is a big difference between the story on the surface of this play and the emotions hidden deep inside. This kind of performance is like. It must be performed by a comedian."

Levi's previous life has seen many comedians transform into dramas or even behind the scenes at the end of their careers. He never believed that comedians were more superficial than other actors.

Comedians are not superficial, and some can even be deep. Almost all comedians choose to shoot works that satirize reality when pursuing classic works. Under the skin of their comedy, they begin to wrap the core of tragedy and use hidden meanings and self-deprecation to make fun so that they can deepen their performances. For many comedians, the madness in comedy is just a skin. They can show comedy and tragedy at the same time in movies.

On the surface, the movie The Truman Show is quite joyful, but behind it is a story with a tragic core. For such a movie, if you find actors from the main drama to act in it, he is afraid it will be difficult for them to perform well. It will be difficult for them to express two completely different emotions.

But comedians are different. They can do this. In his memory, Jim Carrey acted in this play, but now in Levi's opinion, Jim Carrey is still the best candidate.

This movie lead must be him.

*****

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