Chapter 57 - Lu Ping's Decision

"Take a step forward, and we risk falling into the abyss of ten thousand feet and shattering our bones; stay put, and perhaps we can survive for a while, but only die a slower death." In the high-level conference room at the headquarters of MGM studios, a topic about the company's survival was being heatedly discussed at a board meeting, and President Lupin made an analogy of the company's current situation, saying, "If I have to choose between the two, I'd rather go for the former, and even if it fails, at least I can prove that I've made an effort."

"Then have you considered the risk of utilizing such a huge sum of money for filming?" A director asked.

"Any movie has risks until it is released." Lupin surged to his feet, his eyes darting around the room before he asked aloud, "I'd like to ask you all, what risk is greater for MGM than remaining in this half-dead state forever?"

"Even if we have to make a big production like this, we can have better options." Although another director supported Lupin's judgment on the company's current situation, he had a disagreement with Lupin on the goal of the investment, "Like launching a new James Bond."

"We just spent $140 million on the most lavish James Bond movie in history." Lupin was referring to the new James Bond movie "Die Another Day" starring Pierce Brosnan, which was once seen as a "lifesaver" by MGM after "Windtalkers".

As a tribute to the 40th anniversary of the James Bond series, the movie is a huge investment, and was shot in the UK, Cuba and Iceland. Among them, 007 drove an Aston Martin in the ice field and the enemy killed the scene is known as the classic plot of film history, the two sides of the car is simply a super chariot, radar, infrared imaging device, missiles, heavy machine guns, mortars in turn, counted as one of the most handsome car racing scenes in history.

In order to get further publicity, the producers also invited the singing diva Madonna to sing the theme song, but these have not become a guarantee of high box office. The film was released in Europe and the United States after the audience reflected strongly, but in Asia, due to the film appeared in the United States to the South Korean army to give orders to the plot, although the film in South Korea in the first week of release box office ranked fifth, but soon the box office plummeted, the second week will be out of the top ten, and a theater in Seoul to stop screening, many second-round theaters have stopped screening.

Some even linked the film's extensive smearing of North Korea to the North Korean military's assertive posture during the latest round of six-party talks, claiming that the film had angered the North Korean authorities, which, although unconfirmed, nearly led to a political crisis.

Despite high hopes, the movie ended up being a bit of a disappointment. It was this that Lupin seized upon to question the director's proposal earlier. "Some people say that the movie didn't have the success it was expected to have because Pierce Brosnan had gotten old. But I think, putting aside some subjective factors, the main reason that this movie didn't satisfy everyone here is because our expectations were too high in the beginning. A series that lasted 40 years and made 20 movies on different types of subjects, even if they were classic, could not have created any box office miracle."

All the people on the board were silent, what Lupin had said came out as a fact that they had been avoiding but had to admit.

"Looking back, let's seriously reflect on ourselves, what exactly does a James Bond movie bring us? In addition to reputation and wealth, it has also limited our creative thinking, when other studios have pushed the boundaries and won the audience by constantly changing the subject matter, we are still lying on the hotbed of 007 honor. Whenever we encounter difficulties, we always think of making another James Bond. This will only result in us becoming more and more dependent on 007 and losing the ability and drive to innovate."

"Change a younger actor, change cooler and stronger props, and this will ensure that the next 007 can appeal to the audience?" Lupin pointed to his head, "I think replacing here is the main thing."

"Talk about that script you're looking at!" Board Chairman Pindyck, who hadn't said anything, changed the topic at this time, which was the same as indicating his attitude to the others.

"Before that, I still want to show you all a set of data first." Lupin pressed the controller in his hand, he used the projector to show a set of movie posters, "This is a small-budget independent film that we spent $5 million on not long ago, perhaps everyone here has already accompanied their own children to see this film in the movie theater, I won't comment on its good or bad here, let's use the data to speak. "

A few bright red numbers appeared on the projector's light screen, "$8.5 million at the box office in its premiere, and $35 million at the North American box office a week after its release. Everyone should know what such a result means for an independently produced small budget movie."

"I'm here to show you this set of figures, not like proving how accurate my personal vision is, I just want to tell you that the director, the screenwriter and also the male lead of this movie is the author of that script we just discussed, and I want to remind you that he is only 16 years old this year. So far, he's only appeared in three movies in Hollywood, all of which have been big successes; he's also written a novel called Twilight, which has already sold 20 million copies around the world; he's Felix Lin, who is known to the Hollywood media as the 'Wonder Boy'."

----

"You have a new nickname now, people in the newspaper call you 'Wonder Boy'!" Ecks brought Lin Ming Yang a bunch of newspapers, on each of which he was able to see reports about the movie Cinderella's Glass Phone, "I think this is the success you were looking for!"

The smile on Lin Ming Yang's face was a bit forced, because of the media's extensive coverage of the film "Cinderella's Glass Cell Phone", the photos of Lin Ming Yang and Kate Beckinsale holding hands during the press conference were also rehashed by the media, and Lin Ming Yang spent three whole hours explaining this to Megan, who was far away from New York, and this was only with great difficulty to calm the other party, but Eckles brought him brought a more unexpected news: Kate has agreed to sign to the name of Eckles' agency, this period of time did not see Eckles' people, is because he has been busy looking for a suitable assistant for Kate.

"You don't seem happy to hear this news?" Ecks asked with a snicker.

"All this stuff in the newspaper is already enough to make me bitter!" Lin Ming Yang threw these newspapers towards one side without any good humor, "Tell me how the progress is going on MGM's side?"

"This is the second good news I brought you, Lupin is very optimistic about this script, he has convinced the board of directors to go with your script, the initial investment budget is probably between 80 and 100 million dollars, it seems that MGM has really made up their mind to fight with their backs against the wall this time, if they don't succeed, they will go bankrupt!"

"Is that all?" Lin Ming Yang asked again, Ecks' answer obviously didn't capture what he really cared about.

"The male lead is definitely you, the production is by Mr. Brooksheimer, the other candidates are undecided!" Ecks spread his hands, "That's all I know, more questions, I think you'd better save them for our Mr. Lupin!"

----

Lupin took the initiative to meet with Lin Ming Yang, with the status relationship between the two, this was not common in Hollywood, and from this it could be seen that Lupin himself attached importance to this movie. Sitting with Lupin, there was also producer Brooksheimer, and this kind of formation made it easy for Lin Ming Yang to guess what the next conversation would involve.

After all, the other party is the president of MGM studios, the thin camel is also bigger than a horse, the first time they met, Lin Mingyang still seems to be very introverted, which is also a kind of respect he has for Lupin.

"Welcome our 'Wonder Boy', I'm Lupin Richard." Lupin stood up to greet Lin Ming Yang and Ecks as they walked over, Lin Ming Yang had to make a "flattered" look on his face to further win the other party's favor.

"Just now Mr. Brooksheimer commented that you were 'a stubborn and untamed wild horse', it seems that things are going better than I thought." The impression Lin Mingyang gave Lupin was not as "bad" as Brooksheimer had said.

"That's because you haven't encountered this guy's stubbornness yet." The bad words spoken behind his back were revealed to his face, Brooksheimer didn't have any embarrassment or displeasure on his face, his current mood looked good, and incidentally he looked at Lin Ming Yang in a much smoother light.

Lupin smiled and shook his head, the main purpose of this meeting today wasn't to discuss Lin Ming Yang, so he didn't proceed to expand on this topic, instead, he went straight to the point, "Felix, about the filming plan for this movie, I think Mr. Eckes has already told you, so I would like to hear your opinion."

Lin Ming Yang's question was straightforward, "About which aspect?"

"All that you can think of." Lupin added, "There's no need to have any scruples, what I want to know is your truest thoughts."

Even the request to change scripts and actors, Brooksheimer on the side didn't think Lin Ming Yang would have any scruples, but he didn't make a sound, but quietly watched Lin Ming Yang's "performance" on the side.

"Regarding the investment in the movie, naturally the more the better!" Lin Ming Yang mentioned this somewhat sensitive issue very nonchalantly at the very beginning, "I think on this point, Mr. Brooksheimer's thoughts should be the same as mine."

Lupin hesitated with a hard look on his face, "For this movie, our investment is already quite a lot."

"Since Mr. Lupin has already made up his mind, the result of investing more would be the same for MGM now, but the possible effects in the future would definitely make a big difference." Lin Ming Yang's meaning was very simple, MGM was already like this now and didn't care about investing some more, if it failed it would be bankrupt anyway, but if it succeeded it could bring more box office revenue and word of mouth for the company. Since it had already cut off a piece of meat, it didn't care to bleed a little more.

"We will seriously consider your suggestion." Lupin nodded.

"There's about the director, it's best to find one who is familiar with that type of movie. There are many such directors, and the key is that he should be able to accurately grasp the thematic elements of the drama, rather than turning this movie into a mere action film."

"What do you think?" Lupin turned his solicitous gaze to Brooksheimer.

"I think Doug Liman would be a good fit, his 'Spy' has just set a new paradigm for action movies, I think he would be interested in this script." Brooksheimer gives his opinion.

"A young director." Even though Doug Liman was approaching 40 years old, Lupin wasn't exaggerating when he said he was young, and that was relative to the average age of the entire industry; freaks like Lin Mingyang, who directed a movie at the age of 16, were naturally excluded.

"What about the female lead?" Lupin didn't instantly shoot down the movie, but changed the subject.

"You need my opinion on this one too?" Lin Mingyang asked tentatively.

"As a matter of fact you did this once, so why would you mind doing it again?" Lupin also humored himself a little this time, meaning to refer to the problem Lin Ming Yang had given him last time.

"Need someone older than me, good at action acting, and preferably a hot and sexy beauty!" Lin Ming Yang didn't directly name the candidate, but the Hollywood actresses that truly met his requirements had actually been compressed into a very small range.

When the phrase "sexy and hot" came out of Lin Ming Yang's mouth, no one else made any special comments, probably no one here would really consider Lin Ming Yang as a minor.

"Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones." Brooksheimer casually reported two popular Hollywood movie stars, both of whom were known for being sexy and flirtatious, but were obviously too far removed from the age setting of Jane, the heroine of the show.

"I think Angelina Jolie would be perfect." Ecks, who hadn't been involved in the discussion, muttered in a low voice at this point.

No one answered, and Ecks realized that everyone else was looking at him, then he scratched his head and looked a little constrained as he explained, "I merely thought of Lara Croft from Tomb Raider by Felix's description, and Angelina Jolie has just played the role, and she's good at it, and I don't know if everyone here agrees with this point, I bought my movie ticket for her anyway!"

Brooksheimer frowned, "Her marriage seems to be in a bit of trouble lately." Angelina Jolie was flash-married to Billy Bob Thornton in 2000, but recently there were rumors that the two were not getting along.

"Her relationship with her own father also seems to be strained lately." Lupin added that Jolie's movie-star father criticized Jolie through a letter and a public TV interview, and Jolie, in a fit of rage, filed a court petition to remove her father's last name. The story has been making the rounds in Hollywood.

"I love this beautiful 'sister'!" Lin Ming Yang now had the urge to hug and kiss Ecks, because the guy had said the most anticipated candidate in his heart at a crucial moment.