Chapter 205 Deja Vu
The Social Network opens with Mark Zuckerberg and his ex-girlfriend having a verbal sparring match in a bar that lasts a full five minutes, shot with no background, no close-ups of limbs, no special effects, no soundtrack, just two faces staring at each other with indifference. The episode took up eight pages of the script and was filmed over the course of a whole week before a characterization of a lonely, difficult-to-communicate persona was established.
This set of shots intermittently shot more than 80 times, Lin Mingyang on the details of the shooting requirements almost harsh, in addition to the pursuit of perfection, his main purpose is to let Jesse Eisenberg faster into the role. Because all of Mark's character traits were shown in this episode, Jesse just had to be able to complete this performance, then the next shoot would be much easier.
Only very few people in the crew were able to understand Lin Ming Yang's intentions, and the beginning of the shoot made made everyone think that Lin Ming Yang would spend a lot of time on the shoot, but the progress of the next shoot took everyone by surprise. After Jesse Eisenberg entered the "state", shooting became a very simple thing. After another week, half of the movie's filming had been completed, and the speed of the filming made everyone's jaw drop.
Of course, Lin Mingyang didn't neglect the details of the movie because of the fast shooting. There is a line in the movie: "Harvard has produced 19 Nobel Prize winners, 15 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 2 movie stars." The two movie stars refer to Natalie Portman and Lin Ming Yang himself.
The movie tries to restore the real state of Facebook being born in Harvard, and Lin Mingyang is Mark's former roommate and a current Harvard student, all of these identities provide great convenience for the filming of the movie. The Harvard social gatherings, the slogans on the walls of the dormitory, the models of laptops Mark used to use, and even the command lines of network operations that appear on the screen are all greatly realistic.
In the plot of The Social Network, Mark wears slippers to attend his own hearing, and the real Mark is also this unkempt in life, in several major Facebook press conferences, he is wearing a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers to face the global press. This has been interpreted by the media as a "Steve Jonas-like symbol of the tech industry", and he has been voted the worst-dressed person of the year by fashion magazines such as Gentleman.
Interestingly, the best-dressed person of the year was Ming-Yang Lin, Facebook's two biggest shareholders, who made a fashion list at the same time, and then took first and last place, a very dramatic result indeed.
During the filming of the movie, Mark had made it clear to The New Yorker that he would not be watching The Social Network, but he quietly watched an in-house preview before the movie's release - and even that was very similar to the movie's style of not saying what he says in the film. In an interview he left this afterthought, "For every short sleeve and hoodie that appears in the movie, I do have one that looks exactly like it."
During the interview, Mark was calm, slow, often silent and highly confident. He's only 172 centimeters tall, but always holds his head up and is confident, so it's no surprise that he's portrayed as an anti-social condescending character by Lin Mingyang in the film.
"Being the most original major shareholder of Facebook and also the best screenwriter in Hollywood, I think Felix knows very well how to grasp the relationship between the real and the virtual, well, I saw the movie in advance, but I'm sorry I can't tell you the plot, and I would like to say that not everything in this movie is necessarily true, but Felix incorporates a a lot of his own views on certain issues, and although he portrayed me as a 'bad guy' in the movie it was certainly a very interesting movie!"
Mark's own comments about the movie made waves in the media. A skillful con man has to get others to count his money for him after he's ripped someone off. And a skillful director, even if the movie makes a person into a "despicable" guy, scolding people, but they think you made a good movie, this is the level.
Although Lin Mingyang's "The Social Network" contains a large number of fictionalized episodes, Facebook's success in reality is not fictional, and the site has attracted more than 500 million registered users worldwide in the three years since its founding. In terms of total population, it is the third largest country on earth; in terms of the breadth of population distribution, even 16th-century Spain and 19th-century so-called Sunset England could not match it. Time magazine named Mark Zuckerberg Person of the Year for: connecting half a billion people and changing the way we live.
The promotional poster for The Social Network is based on this, with a giant headshot of Jesse Eisenberg featuring a bold line of the slogan: "When you make 500 million friends, it's hard to avoid making a few enemies!"
Since receiving two Oscar trophies, Hollywood would no longer underestimate any of Lin Ming Yang's works. His new film "Social Network" has attracted attention from all sides since the beginning of shooting, and it is about the creation of Facebook, a subject full of mysterious content, the media reports early to arouse the appetite of movie fans, after the release of the film's hot scene is not difficult to imagine.
The Social Network was released in over 4,000 theaters in North America, and in just two weeks, the U.S. box office broke $100 million. You have to know that this is a "biographical" film, no stars, no special effects, and even some of the film's intellectual flavor, but at an average ticket price of $ 10, more than 10 million Americans have bought tickets to see the film, and this number is still increasing.
In addition to the amazing results at the box office, the film has received unanimous praise in North America and even around the world, especially from the ever-harsh critics, who have been almost unanimous in their praise.
"Enchanted dialogue surges through two hours. It makes a difficult story to tell clear and engaging. ... In an era when movie dialogue is so brainless and has to be deliberately slowed down to satisfy uninterested viewers who are slow and half-hearted, the dialogue has the speed and passion of off-the-wall comedy." --Chicago Sun
...
"While this is a tale of how a college brat becomes the richest man in e age, it's also a masterpiece that transcends the limitations of its time and reflects the way of life in our time!" --New York Post
...
"The result is a movie that could well be a symbol representing its time and place. The film is a shrewd look at social class, behavior, ethics, and the heightened preoccupations of one genius. It has the heightened excitement of this cyberrevolution and the thin air of a world of money turning over and devouring millions." --The New Yorker
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THE SOCIAL NETWORK made a fortune for Lionsgate, the company responsible for the film's distribution, and naturally, Lin Mingyang was on the guest list for the celebratory reception; even his agent, Ickes, was invited.
On the way to the appointment, Ecks, who was driving the car, couldn't help but complain, "I admit that you did shoot this movie with a really high level of quality, but shouldn't you have notified me ahead of time when you were self-criticizing in the movie so that I could be mentally prepared as well?"
Lin Ming Yang frowned and said somewhat unpleasantly, "I sent you a copy of my script when it was written...don't tell me you didn't even read it?"
"This..." Ecks heatedly smiled sarcastically twice, "I did read the script, but after the opening scene where Mark and his ex-girlfriend have that conversation, I had no desire to read on...I have to say, reading a script and watching a movie are two different feelings altogether!"
"Then it's not my fault!" Lin Ming Yang shrugged his shoulders and continued to lean back in his seat with his eyes closed.
The car stopped at a red light intersection, and Ecks said indignantly, "But that storyline you designed for your own character in the movie really made it hard for me to comment on it, and a lot of people called me to ask me if what was depicted in the movie was your real life?"
Lin Ming Yang closed his eyes, i.e. he didn't say anything, and his face didn't have any expressive reaction, as if he hadn't heard Ecks' words at all.
His impassive expression finally annoyed Ecks, who slammed the steering wheel and huffed, "How should I answer? Hypocritically tell them that your life isn't like that, that it's just an artistic exaggeration; or tell them that your life isn't too far from the movie, but the ones who slept with you weren't those models with no fame, but one of Hollywood's popular female stars?"
At this time, Lin Ming Yang finally spoke up, "This movie is supposed to be a mishmash of falsehoods and truths, an explanation is a cover-up, just ignore it!"
"You haven't been harassed by non-stop ringing phones, so of course it's easy to say!" Ecks grunted in dismay, by this time the green light at the intersection had already come on, his car didn't move, the other cars following him had already honked their horns impatiently.
Eckles vented like a foot of gas, the car violently soared out, the sidewalk passersby startled, but sitting in the car Lin Mingyang face is still a breezy expression. After being depressed, Ecks could only continue to drive.
To the scene of the celebration, the venue outside has gathered a lot of reporters, Lin Mingyang got off the car wearing sunglasses, separated from the distance at first was not found by onlookers reporters, but the president of the Lion's Gate Company Gusto personally greeted up, was stopped at the far end of the journalists' cameras bristled on this side.
Lin Mingyang, Eckles and Gusta exchanged pleasantries at the entrance of the hotel, and then walked towards the hotel while chatting.
Ecks was mixing like a fish out of water at the reception, but Lin Ming Yang lacked interest in those socializing. He found himself a quiet corner to sit down, and didn't sit down for long before Gusta approached him. Lin Mingyang is now the "cash cow" of Lionsgate, and should not be neglected easily.
Walking in front of Lin Ming Yang, he pretended to be surprised and said, "Felix, you are the main character of this celebration, why did you come here alone?"
Lin Ming Yang shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile, "All this socializing has never been my forte."
"Fair enough!" Gusta nodded knowingly, "If you can be a long-winded socializer on such occasions, then Mr. Ecks would probably have to be laid off!"
"Are you guys talking about me?" Ecks appeared out of nowhere and came over to watch the fun at this point.
"Aren't you guys tired of standing and talking?" Lin Ming Yang pointed to the sofa opposite himself, "If there's any topic you guys can just sit down and talk about it."
"Felix, The Social Network has achieved such good results, do you have any plans for the next?" Gusta was quick to speak and asked right to the point after sitting down.
Lin Mingyang of course could hear something in Gusta's words, he and Ecks exchanged a glance, then laughed: "Of course it's to continue going to college!"
"I mean, do you have any free slots during this time?" Although Gusta's words were a question to Lin Ming Yang, his eyes were fixed on Ecks.
Seeing the other party's solicitous gaze, Ecks helplessly explained, "Although I'm his manager, Felix's slot schedule has never been his own decision. This guy is very lazy and has a difficult appetite, if Mr. Gusto doesn't have that kind of particularly good script or idea, it would be quite difficult to get him to take a shot at it!"
Hearing his words, Gustav had to turn his attention back to Lin Ming Yang, "We are preparing to make a movie related to China recently, and the male lead is still undecided... Felix is interested in playing this role, we will definitely offer you a satisfactory remuneration; if you really don't want to play this role, I would also like to ask you to play it. If you really don't want to act during this time, I would also like to ask you to look at this script for me, because you know China better, their culture, their character you know better than I do, I don't know if both sides will be satisfied after this movie is made."
Gusto hadn't made a wrong bet this time after all, hearing that this movie was related to China, Lin Mingyang did look a little bit interested, but before figuring out the situation, he didn't rush to say yes.
"We are cooperating with a Hong Kong film company this time, the director we got for this movie is Rob Minkoff, who directed the popular The Lion King, and the cinematography is Oscar winner Bao Dexi. Our partners in Hong Kong have also convinced Yuen Woo-ping, the famous Hong Kong action director who helped the Wachowski brothers make The Matrix, to join the movie..."
The more Lin Mingyang listened, the deeper his doubts deepened in his heart, Gusta's description and a certain movie he remembered, the outline was getting closer and closer. When Gusta said that they were going to invite two of the most influential Chinese kung fu superstars in Hollywood to join the movie at the same time, Lin Mingyang was already incredibly sure that what Gusta was talking about was the movie he remembered.
"Jason is an American teenager who is proficient in video games and obsessed with Chinese kung fu. He always wished he could go from being a kung fu master like in the movie." Seeing that Lin Ming Yang didn't say a word, Gusta began to describe the general plot of the movie to him.
"You guys didn't design this character specifically for Felix, did you?" Ecks interjected at this time, because how he heard it, he felt that the Jason that Gusta was talking about had more or less Lin Ming Yang's shadow on him.
"I don't think the writers know Felix, so it should just be a coincidence." Gusta explained a little bit, then continued, "Normally Jason always likes to go to a pawn store in Boston's Chinatown to look for collectible Chinese Kung Fu pieces, but he always encounters trouble when he walks through the alleys near his house because Jason is often targeted by a group of thugs and is often bullied by them."
"On this day, Jason stumbles upon a mysterious golden rod inside a pawn store, and surprisingly travels to ancient China as a result! He finds himself in the midst of a shocking prophecy: a messenger is to return the legendary weapon to its owner, thus freeing the Great Sage of Qi Tian, who has been trapped in stone for 500 years."
Lin Mingyang held a cup and sipped the juice, when he heard the strange translation of "Qi Tian Da Sheng" from Gusta's mouth, he put down the juice with a stunned expression.
"This script is adapted from the Chinese classic 'Journey to the West'?"
The title "Journey to the West" was awkwardly expressed in English, but Gusta still understood it, and his eyes widened in surprise: "You've read this novel?"
Lin Mingyang drew an analogy, "Chinese people are as familiar with this novel as the Grimm's Fairy Tales that we Westerners have been listening to since childhood."
"Really?" Gusta was full of surprise, "So the original story that the script was adapted from is very popular in China?"
"To be precise, there's no one in China who doesn't know the story!" From Gusta's expression, Lin Mingyang had already guessed what he was thinking. Gusta was nothing more than thinking that since the film's prototype story was so popular in China, and this movie was a collaboration with a Hong Kong, China-based movie company, after it was filmed, the revenue in the Chinese market must be very objective.
But Lin Mingyang poured cold water on him at this time, "Precisely because it's widely known, there are so many movie and TV productions about this novel, and this subject matter may still have some novelty for the American audience, but for the Chinese audience, perhaps they've already grown tired of the aesthetic."
"But we also have Jackie Chan and Jet Li, both of them are from China, and both of them are international movie stars known for their kung fu, but I know that it seems like they've never worked together before...it's going to be a big selling point for the movie!" Gusta argued.
Lin Ming Yang shrugged helplessly, Gusta's attitude completely exposed a common problem of Hollywood producers when investing, emphasizing actors over plot, and form over substance.
"If all you need is a hype gimmick, then I have nothing to say!"