New Era

"Nick, congratulations to you. How many years in a row is this? You have won something at the Oscars every year in a row." 

Walking into the hall after the Oscars party, Levi faced the people who paid tribute to him. He smiled slightly and accepted the person's congratulations with a slight smile.

The Oscars have passed, and the Oscar awards were not much different from what people predicted.

Among this year's movies, there are several movies that are particularly successful. From the time they came out, people have basically determined that no one can compete with these movies.

For example, in animated feature films, Monsters, Inc. would have a hard time competing with Shrek. 

The Lord of the Rings took away the Best Photography, Best Makeup, Best Music, and Best Visual Effects awards. As a blockbuster film, it is impossible to lose to anyone in the visual effects of The Lord of the Rings. 

This was originally Peter Jackson's specialty. Although it is difficult for his movies to highlight the actors' acting skills, he is strong in producing special effects for large scenes.

The Best Editing and Best Sound Production went to Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, and the Best Sound Editing went to Pearl Harbor. War movies have an advantage in this aspect, and this is an indisputable fact.

It can be said that this time at the Oscars, all special effects awards were taken away by various blockbusters. This also means that Hollywood movies have finally officially entered the blockbuster era.

The types of movies that have been able to shine at the Oscars in the past have basically not gained much this time. 

A Beautiful Mind won Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Director. This is already the most profitable movie. 

The original favorite, Gosford Manor, got nothing, which can be said to be extremely embarrassing.

Of course, there are some special reasons for this: for example, this time, the Best Actor and Best Actress were awarded to black actors Denzel Washington and Halle Berry - this kind of award, to a certain extent, can also be regarded as a political need. 

Hollywood is a place that is quite sensitive to racial issues. For the two of them to win awards is a political necessity compared to this. The demands of the actors are somewhat different.

After all, this is the first time that black actors have successfully fought for power for themselves. Compared with this, the actors' demands are nothing.

Actually, for a long time in the past, black people have always been a group with little status in Hollywood. And this reason is actually easy to understand: among screenwriters, directors, and producers who have great power in Hollywood, there are no black people. 

Therefore, no matter how many actors there are, it is difficult for them to gain any respect — the same reason also applies to other people of color, Asians, and Latinos. These groups of people are not taken seriously in Hollywood because they have no place in the upper-class circles of Hollywood.

However, as time goes by, black people are improving their status. Among them, there are also some good upper-class figures. 

Moreover, black people also go through departments such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), fighting for their own rights and interests. 

These efforts also brought them a lot of benefits. The most direct reaction is that nowadays, black people rarely play servants in movies. In fact, they rarely play villains in movies.

This time, the Oscar is a preliminary manifestation. In Levi's memory, their power will gradually increase after Oscar passes this time. Even in the future, a movie reflecting the tragic life of black people will be released almost every two years. At that time, the power of black people will be demonstrated.

Compared with before, the division of power in Hollywood has become more and more apparent.

Compared to the future, now only two people have won the actor award, which is very easy to accept. When Levi saw this scene, he wasn't too surprised. On the contrary, he took the lead in applauding and congratulating the two actors.

Levi was in a rather embarrassing position in this Oscar. He only won one award for Best Original Screenplay - this award made Levi quite helpless. In terms of screenwriting awards, he received far more honors than as a Director.

As for other awards, basically all failed. The editing was not received, and the nominations of the two actresses were just a formality. Although this was very good for their fame, it was a pity that they did not win the award.

However, in the eyes of others, Levi has nothing to regret now. He won another Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, which made him have three Best Screenplay awards in his hand. This number of awards will surprise everyone.

But what's the use of having a good script? This is a new era. New actor group, new film model, new division of power, this is a truly new era.

However, others did not seem to realize this. At the dinner, people asked Levi about the new script more than once.

"What new plans do you have? Are there any new scripts in preparation?"

In people's eyes, this should be a matter of course. Over the years, Levi had maintained the pace of one movie a year even when he was laziest. Now that this year's Oscars have passed, his new movie should be ready for production. In people's eyes, it should be the most normal thing.

However, Levi's answers to these questions were all the same, "There is no script. In fact, what I am considering recently is adapting a novel."

Levi's answer was not unexpected. So what if it's the best screenwriter? No matter how good the screenwriters are, they can't write scripts every day. They have to conceive and think about it no matter what. 

The two scripts Levi has recently written are both romance films, which are obviously not significant breakthroughs. It is not surprising that he said he had no good ideas.

Moreover, it's not like he hasn't used other people's scripts in the past. He said he would adapt novels, which is normal. However, people are also very curious about whether Levi's new movie will make any new breakthroughs.

This time, at the Oscars, it was already undeniable that he was not welcomed. Could it be that he wanted to do something else?

In this regard, some filmmakers with a better relationship with Levi, such as Kevin Spacey, asked directly after hearing Levi's plan.

"I don't make movies just for the Oscar, and even if I made movies for the Oscars, it's said that I can't get the Oscar. What can I do?" Levi just shrugged in response to this.

Oscar's statement is that there is a deeper level of human exploration or more advanced technological applications. This statement is quite official because it is not so much the criterion for Oscar awards. This is the standard that the Oscars must award and cannot default on anymore.

If you can do this, even the Oscars must recognize the greatness of the director.

Unfortunately, it is not easy to do this. Over the years, many movies have depicted human nature, but there are no real breakthroughs. Only a few go deep into the soul, such as Silence of the Lambs, which does a pretty good job in this regard. Because it truly depicts perversion. 

When it comes to technological breakthroughs, Titanic is the leader in this area. This movie's large investment and sophisticated production kicked off the blockbusters era.

And it is not easy to reach such a level.

However, Levi wanted to try it. And the direction of this attempt, as he himself once said, is to make science fiction films.

Science fiction movies that are based on humans tend to have a more profound exploration of humanity. When it comes to technological breakthroughs, what could be more exciting than science fiction movies?

Levi has already thought about these things in his mind, but he is not very willing to mention them in front of outsiders. After all, Spielberg had just made a bad movie about artificial intelligence. At this time, Levi seemed to be overestimating his ability to make a science fiction film.

Therefore, Levi's plan was to prepare everything first and then publicize the matter.

And the most crucial first step in all this preparation is the script.

And there is a script now in Levi's hands - the novel version of the Three-Body Problem, which has been written by Liu Cixin.

Compared to the Three-Body Problem in Levi's memory, this version of the Three-Body Problem is basically unchanged. However, because he has more contact with Hollywood screenwriters, Liu has become more technologically advanced. When this story was sent to Levi, Levi made the decision to make the movie.

Of course, the Chinese version of the story he wrote is difficult to put into filming: it involves many political issues, and if these issues are put into filming, it is likely to become a huge trouble. 

This is not only true in China but also the United States. Levi doesn't want to cause any trouble, so if he really wants to make this movie, the first issue is to adapt the original story. Otherwise, the story will not be usable at all.

Levi already knows this and doesn't think making the changes is too difficult. 

Three-Body Problem is different from Rabe's diary, after all. Rabe's diary involves one of the most painful memories of the Chinese nation. 

In Levi's view, if a foreigner filmed that story, it would be a lack of respect for the entire China - one's own past should be remembered by oneself. It's never good to ask others to recall.

After all, The Three-Body Problem is just a fantasy science fiction story. Even if this kind of story is changed to be filmed by foreigners and the location is moved from China to the United States, there will be no problem. 

When making a movie, you just need to express the profound things you want to convey. The story itself can be changed.

Therefore, Levi is also planning to change the script of The Three-Body Problem and film it.

Adapting a novel into a screenplay is actually not a particularly difficult task. However, Levi has great expectations for this novel. Therefore, in his opinion, this novel has great expectations from the narrative structure to the characters and narrative content of the movie, and even the description and planning of some special effects scenes; all these need to be adapted.

And if one wants to do all of this, it is obviously very difficult. However, Levi is also very confident about this: since the new era has arrived, he will naturally want to shoot movies of the new era.

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons 

Marcelo Maia

Britanna

Mandy G

Scott DePaepe

Danny York

MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999

You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.