Chapter 765 - Astonishing Ideas

In Laila's past life, when it came to movies about magic, one couldn't help but mention "Now You See Me." This film, which tells the story of magic and crime, received a lot of praise and attention upon its release, and of course, the box office performance was quite impressive, grossing over $350 million worldwide.

What's worth noting is that out of this $350 million, only $110 million came from North America, with the rest coming from screenings in other countries. This means that not only North American audiences were interested in this genre, but audiences in other countries around the world were also equally interested. Especially when the second installment was released, in just two days, it had already surpassed the total box office of the first installment, far exceeding the North American box office performance.

Now, mentioning "Now You See Me" to Nolan seemed somewhat ridiculous. So, Laila, standing in the position of director, explained the reasons why she believed "Now You See Me" would succeed based on her research.

"I haven't directed a movie about magic before. But if I were to, I would probably pay attention to a few points," she paused, organizing her thoughts before continuing, "First, you have to make the audience curious about magic. How to make them curious? By performing some seemingly simple but dazzling tricks to excite the audience. Secondly, it's important to maintain a good pace. While audiences enjoy scenes of magic, a movie can't just focus on magic for over 100 minutes. Additionally, the way characters interact with each other is also crucial, highlighting their personalities through language and actions."

As she spoke, Nolan took out a notebook and carefully recorded her words.

To facilitate this, Laila deliberately slowed down her speech so that he could jot down everything he wanted to remember. She believed that if he really followed her advice, "The Prestige" would be even more attractive than the original.

After Nolan finished recording, he raised many detailed questions, and Laila answered them one by one. Sometimes he wouldn't follow her advice on everything, and when there were differing opinions, they would each express their viewpoints to persuade the other. Sometimes, they even got animated in their discussions.

In this corner of the café, no one would have imagined that two influential Hollywood directors would be discussing things like this. Fortunately, the place was open 24 hours a day, otherwise, they would have been kicked out long ago since they had been talking for four hours, far too long for the staff to tolerate.

After all their doubts were cleared up, Nolan finally sighed with satisfaction.

"Director Moran, I really appreciate you giving me this opportunity to have such a conversation. I feel like I've learned a lot today," he stood up and reached out to shake her hand, thanking her solemnly.

Laila smiled and shook his hand, "Likewise, I've learned a lot from you as well."

Unfortunately, her modesty did not receive Nolan's acknowledgment. He shook his head and said, "No, Director Moran, you are a truly great director."

No matter how ignorant he was, he knew that it was impossible for other directors to openly share their experiences as she did. They were colleagues, but also competitors. No one would willingly help create a formidable opponent, right? 

But she did it. Just based on this, she had earned Nolan's respect.

After the meeting ended, when Nolan returned home, he rushed into his study without even bothering to freshen up and started revising the script for "The Prestige."

He had too many new ideas to incorporate. The conversation with Laila had given him many insights, and he believed that after this revision, the script would be at least ten times more exciting than before!

Early the next morning, when his wife called him for breakfast, he realized that it was already broad daylight. But he didn't have time for breakfast; he just grabbed a piece of bread and drove straight to the film company. On the way, he even made calls to representatives of several companies, hoping to meet with them at the company.

The representative, unsure if he was going to bring up the same topic again, came to the company feeling anxious. They just hoped that yesterday's meeting with Moran could make him drop the idea of resigning and focus on making this new series. The first installment should be able to gross around $400 to $500 million worldwide, a number that would be very satisfactory for them. They weren't greedy; if the next two installments could also reach such numbers, it would be enough for them.

But what they never expected was that as soon as Nolan entered the office, he said to them, "I hope Moran can take over the next two Batman films!"

Imagine how speechless the representatives were when they heard this. Moran! That's Moran! Was there any Hollywood movie company that didn't want her to direct their films? But she had her own company, and she wasn't short of funds. How could she possibly come to direct our movies?

Moreover, that renowned director never directed sequels. Didn't they see that before, the series she started had never had a second installment? Even globally popular series like "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Harry Potter" had never had her breaking that pattern. Why would they think that she, who doesn't even direct her own more successful series, would agree to direct theirs?

The representatives looked at each other, feeling helpless about Nolan's ignorance of the ways of the world. How were they supposed to make him understand that Moran wouldn't even consider directing his movies?

"Director Nolan," the representatives carefully chose their words, speaking cautiously, "Moran still has work to do. Don't forget, she still has two parts of 'The Lord of the Rings' to complete. Although they were filmed together, it's said that there was only enough time to complete the first part of post-production. How could she possibly have time to take on our movies?"

Nolan waved his hand unconcernedly, "It's okay, during post-production, the director just needs to oversee it. She doesn't need to stay there all the time." He was also a director; he knew this very well. If even he, as a director, knew how to handle this, then how could the legendary Hollywood figure Laila Moran not know?

The representatives also knew this, but they had to find a reason to extinguish the idea that had sprung up.

"Nolan, even if we send the script to Director Moran, she wouldn't take on the sequels," one of the representatives tried to reason with him.

"Yeah, it seems like that," Nolan realized that he might have been a bit too demanding. But he didn't want to give up on this idea.

In fact, he had already had this idea since his long conversation with Laila yesterday. After a night's time and seeing his script become even more brilliant, he was even more determined to realize this idea.

He hoped he could be Moran's assistant and witness firsthand how she directed movies and handled scripts.

"What you say makes sense. I'll personally deliver the script to her. I must make her take on the job, no matter what!" After saying this, he turned and left the office.

His departure was so swift that the others in the room didn't even have time to react.

"Forget it, he'll give up when he hits a brick wall," the representatives sighed helplessly as they stared at the closed door.