Chapter 128 - The Reason Is More Worth Reflecting On Than The Result

Chapter 129 - The Reason Is More Worth Reflecting On Than The Result

Lin Mingyang and Rhett George talk to each other, Rhett George colorful to describe to him what he saw and heard in Rwanda, the two are immersed in the exchange of pure film experience, but Williams on the sidelines, dry anxious, the conversation he frequently to Rhett George eyes, but the other side is not aware of it, as if it were blind.

Rhett George provided Lin Mingyang with a lot of useful insights on making African-themed movies, but he ultimately did not mention his strained relationship with MGM, and Williams had to take the initiative to approach Lin Mingyang for help after their conversation ended.

"I think the script and subject matter of this movie are very deep, and it's definitely a classic reflective movie when it's made, but George is very stubborn, and I'm worried that if all of this goes on, MGM will probably pull out." Williams told Lin Mingyang what had happened and then expressed his concerns about the matter.

"In terms of performance, Don Cheadle is closer to being in character, while Denzel Washington needs to make up for it with mature acting skills, and from an outsider's point of view, I'm happy to support director Ritter's choice. This is my personal FYI suggestion, you can pass it on to Mr. Lupin, more than that I'm afraid I can't do." Lin Mingyang and Rhett George although very talkative, but after all, it is MGM's own company internal matters, he is now "infamous" outside, if by the media to put a big hat on the investors, then he is really "ten evil bad guys "now.

Williams did not get the result he wanted, but on the way back to his room, his mind was alive. If he had simply told Lupin about Lin Mingyang's suggestion, the effect it could have would have been minimal. During the previous conversation in the cafe, Lin Ming Yang had also revealed a very important piece of information, that he was mulling over making a movie related to Africa. Williams felt that he could use this matter to do something about it, MGM was really looking for quality films to invest in, and if Lin Mingyang was going to make a movie, he would definitely need to invest in it, and if his script could attract the attention of MGM, then his opinion would be able to influence the decision making of the top management of MGM.

Facilitating this matter could be said to be beneficial to all three parties. After figuring out these joints, Williams decided to play the role of a needle between Lin Mingyang and MGM.

Lin Mingyang had no knowledge of this matter, and in the days that followed, he had followed Prof. Creel's investigation team through the streets of the Rwandan capital. The investigation team's data collection was progressing rapidly, and the plot in Lin Mingyang's mind was gradually becoming clearer. The story had originally existed in his memory, and this trip to Africa had touched him a lot, which in turn had given him the idea of bringing the movie forward.

Before the script was written, Lin Mingyang had already begun to consider the source of investment for the movie. With the successive capital injections into Facebook, YouTobe and Rotten Tomatoes, plus the investment in King of War, his personal assets had already been used up by a large portion. Moreover, Lin Mingyang was attending Harvard, it was impossible to bet all of his best efforts on a single movie, he only wanted to provide the script and get the leading man of the movie, the rest, just throw it to the producers to deal with.

After returning to Harvard, Ginny was busy writing the script for this trip to Africa, and for the time being, she didn't have the time to come after Lin Ming Yang for that interview, and Lin Ming Yang took advantage of this rare gap to write this script. Just when he was having a hard time with the investors, Williams called and told him the good news.

MGM had decided to continue its cooperation with Rhett George, and the movie Hotel Rwanda did not have the investor withdrawing his money in the middle of the movie as Lin Mingyang remembered, and the director ended up completing the filming out of his own pocket.

At first Lin Mingyang was just happy for Rhett George, he didn't realize that the change in the matter had anything to do with his own, until Williams suggested that MGM president Lupin wanted to meet with him. As soon as he dozed off, someone sent him a pillow, and Lin Ming Yang felt that he was afraid that this was not as simple as he thought.

Although MGM had survived the bankruptcy crisis, their operations were barely maintained, and they desperately needed to make some good movies to open up the situation. Hearing that Lin Mingyang has a new script in his hands, Lupin originally decided to personally fly to Boston to meet with him, just as Lin Mingyang was preparing to go to Los Angeles, he took the initiative to send him to the door, of course, Lupin will not refuse.

The appointment was in the evening, Lupin paced anxiously in his office, constantly smoking, sometimes reaching out to look at his watch, sometimes looking out the window at the sunset. On the question of whether or not to cooperate with Lin Mingyang, he was actually very conflicted in his heart, on the one hand, Lin Mingyang's scripts are sure to produce movies with guaranteed box office, which is what MGM needs the most at the moment; but on the other hand, Lin Mingyang is not as easy to deal with as ordinary screenwriters and actors, and he will always have a lot of "harsh" requirements.

Lupin considered for half a day, and finally decided that as long as Lin Mingyang's demands were not excessive, he would try his best to satisfy him. After making this decision, a stone in his heart finally fell to the ground. Instead of continuing to walk back and forth in the office, he quietly sat back in his office chair.

After three minutes had passed, the assistant pushed the door and invited Lin Mingyang in, seeing him come empty-handed, Lupin felt a little surprised. Lin Ming Yang himself however was very casual, taking off a chair and sitting down by himself, smilingly saying, "Mr. Lupin, long time no see!"

Mr. Lupin always felt that Lin Mingyang's smile was a bit "unkind", he tried to cope with the situation by squeezing a smile from the corner of his mouth, and asked his most concerned question: "Felix, you didn't bring any scripts with you this time?"

Lin Mingyang didn't spare a beat, "I'll send you the script later, but before that, I have to make sure you're not interested in the subject matter, which is the basis for us to establish cooperation."

"I heard Williams say that your new script is related to Africa?"

"To be precise, it has to do with diamonds in Africa. in 1999 a brutal civil war broke out in Sierra Leone, but what everyone was focusing on at that time was the American president's 'zippergate' incident. My script is based on the Sierra Leonean civil war, and the whole story revolves around a light red diamond, which involves a lot of controversial topics of politics, war revelations, and the hidden relationship between the interests of the diamond industry and the war in Africa, which is directly implied. The audience may like it when it's made, but the diamond barons who have a stake in it certainly won't be happy about it."

Because it involved a sensitive topic, Lin Ming Yang had to say the ugly words first. Diamonds were once described by Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe as "a woman's best companion", and the sparkling and expensive little thing is a symbol of love and loyalty in the eyes of a lover, and an endorsement of wealth, glamour and vulgarity. People have long been accustomed to the glitter and glamor of diamonds, but now he wants to expose the dark secrets behind the diamond trade, a strong contrast that makes this subject extremely controversial and challenging.

"The name Blood Diamond was not specifically chosen for this movie. In some African countries, diamonds are the source of funds used by the military to buy armaments and the reason for years of war. Every diamond produced in the warring countries has the blood of African miners, or war casualties, stuck to it. And as one of Africa's major diamond exporters, Sierra Leone's diamond exports generated roughly $200 million dollars a year, which naturally ended up in the pockets of the rebels during the war, to buy weapons for use in the war. It wasn't until the civil war ended in 2002 that this sad vicious cycle came to a halt."

"We imagine the diamond suppliers will protest, since the rate of conflict diamonds in circulation is now down to less than zero point two percent, do you think the subject would still be relevant at the present time?" Lupin raised his doubts.

"The problem of conflict diamonds may have been curbed, but similar problems still exist, in addition to diamonds, there are many other valuable resources in Africa, and the strife caused by the interests of the resources has never stopped. Almost every discovery of a valuable natural resource, be it diamonds, rubber, gold or oil, brings tragedy to the country that produces it, and worse, the proceeds of these resources rarely serve the people of that country. The causes of these are more worthy of our reflection than the results."

"Besides obtaining investments, what other requests do you have?" After listening to Lin Mingyang's introduction, Lupin had already decided to take the script, so he put his words out in the open to test what kind of reaction Lin Mingyang would have.

To his surprise, Lin Mingyang didn't lionize the script this time, but instead made a request that made MGM beg for more.

"You guys decide how much to invest, but the male lead has to be played by me!

Lupin looked at the fine stubble on Lin Mingyang's chin and realized in his mind, at first he thought that Lin Mingyang was too busy writing scripts during this period of time and didn't have time to trim it. Now it seemed that Lin Ming Yang should be preparing for his future role, and all of it, including the fact that he would accept this script, I'm afraid it was all in Lin Ming Yang's plans.

Although Lin Mingyang's clear statement, but Lupin is still a little uneasy, the film "Legend of the Dark" midway change of command, so that the producers have suffered enough, this matter in Hollywood speculation, Lupin does not want to repeat the same mistake. In order to avoid similar situations occur again, from the beginning to find a director who can and Lin Mingyang "match".

"What about the director?"

Lin Mingyang also did not hide, straight to the point: "After reading the script, you will certainly be able to find a large number of suitable candidates, to be honest, in fact, I would also like to be the director of this movie, but unfortunately I still have to go to college, temporarily do not have so much energy and time."

Saying this was the same as not saying it, Lupin smiled bitterly, "You are the screenwriter of the film, and you are going to be the lead actor, of course we have to find a director that is recognized by you, otherwise how are you going to work together?"

Lin Ming Yang naturally understood the meaning of Lu Ping's words, but it made him depressed, "In your producers' eyes, is my image really that bad?"

Lupin's reply was very intriguing: "Some problems are faults in incompetent people, but they become personalities in capable people.Felix, I admit that you're extremely talented,, but there are definitely deficiencies in you as well. In fact, all you need to do is tighten up your personality a bit more, and more people will be clamoring to work with you."

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MGM finally chose Edward Zwick, from "Legends of Autumn" to "The Last Samurai", the kind of spectacular picture, grand scale, and then a little bit of epic color of the film has always been the director's lens of the best performance of the subject matter, his films with a strong cast and work revealed prophetic in Hollywood, but also the success of the honing of a number of stars acting skills, to help them towards a more The movie is set against the backdrop of Sierra Leone's civil war. The Sierra Leonean Civil War was the type of film that Rick specialized in, and MGM was in a good position to make a film about it.

Lin wrote the script for Blood Diamond and insisted on playing the lead role. Lupin saw this as a positive sign that Lin wanted to break away from the shackles of being a handsome young man and go for a powerhouse role after his acting skills had matured.

And the subject matter of "Blood Diamond" is simply tailored to the tastes of the Oscar judges. Any movie that exposes the inner workings of a highly secretive industry is invariably a favorite of the Academy, and with the film's dual theme of political war revelations, the appeal could be doubled. Lupin believed that Lin Mingyang wrote this script with the idea of striking the Oscars in mind, while Edward Zwick won seven Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director in 1999 with his film A History of Shakespeare, and his experience in bidding for the Oscars is well recognized, so both sides of the combination should be able to accept it. This combination should be acceptable to both parties.

Before Edward Zwick received the script, he knew nothing about "blood diamonds", but as his understanding deepened, his fascination and horror intensified, and he thought it was a story that needed to be told.

But Edward Zwick had never been to Africa before and knew nothing about it. In order to do a good job of preparation, Edward Zwick, in addition to reading a lot of background information, in the film has not yet begun to prepare for the first step to get in touch with Lin Mingyang, hoping to be able to get his help.

The script of Blood Diamond was a combination of Lin Mingyang's memories and his experiences in African refugee camps, and he didn't have a lot of material on the civil war in Sierra Leone. Lin Mingyang had directed three movies, all youth comedy movies, costumes, props and other things do not need to be particularly worried about, because this kind of movie lens gangster or against the common sense of the possibility of the line is not big, and he has never paid special attention to these aspects.

Director Edward Zwick's inquiry gave Lin Mingyang a wake-up call, mature director not only in the grasp of the camera, a unique understanding of the plot, but also have the ability to manage the entire film's sense of the times, especially the shooting of this kind of historical background of the movie, the shooting of the preparations before the shooting is particularly important, which is the director's ability to a not a small test.

Compared to the other party, Lin Mingyang saw his own gaps and shortcomings, and although he didn't offer much help to Edward Zewick, he recommended to the other party a movie called "Weeping Freetown" by the famous Sierra Leonean journalist and filmmaker, Soriles Semura, which was the most authoritative documentary about the Sierra Leonean civil war. The movie had been referenced in the script he was writing.