Chapter 493 The Director of The Intouchables
In the afternoon, Huang Anyi chatted with Shi Tiesheng at his house for a short while before leaving. After she left, Lin Weimin also said goodbye and left.
A few days later, the Seoul Olympics was in full swing, and the people of Yanjing were cursing at the same time.
Especially as it gets further along, the cursing gets louder.
Because they were all semi-finals and finals, and the medals were stolen right under our noses. Who wouldn’t be angry when seeing this?
Lin Weimin never watched the Korean performance again after he saw it at Shi Tiesheng's house that day. It was unnecessary for Chun Chun to get angry with herself.
Time passed quickly and it was already the end of September. Amidst the criticism of the Seoul Olympics, the editorial department of Contemporary Magazine completed the preparations for the tenth issue of the magazine this year. Everyone thought they could relax for a few more days.
Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes. Unexpectedly, at this time, Er Yuehe knocked on the door of the editorial department with the last volume of the manuscript of "Emperor Kangxi" on his back.
Tong Zhonggui went to the office and told Lin Weimin that Er Yuehe had come with the manuscript, and he was overjoyed.
From the first volume "The Seizure of the Palace and the Initial Reign" in 1984, the second volume "The Storm" in 1985, to the third volume "Auspiciousness in the Jade Sky" in 1986, Er Yuehe's creative efficiency has been very stable.
When it came to the fourth volume, "Chaos in the Imperial Household", because it was the last volume, Er Yue He wrote it very carefully and attentively. It took him more than two years to write this volume.
Recently, he finally finished writing the content of the fourth volume. He asked for leave from his unit and went straight to Yenching with the manuscript on his back.
The four volumes of "Emperor Kangxi" contain a total of more than 1.6 million words, which can be called a monumental work.
Lu Yao's "Ordinary World" took five years to write, with just over one million words. In comparison, you can see how efficient Er Yue He is in his writing.
Holding the thick manuscript, Lin Weimin sighed: "It's not easy! It's really not easy! It's rare to finish such a big book in four or five years!"
Er Yue He sent me the manuscript, and my body and mind seemed to relax. "I can have a good sleep now!"
Lin Weimin handed the manuscript to his colleagues and said, "I finally finished writing the book. I'll have a good time in Yanjing this time. Just treat it as a vacation for myself!"
These days, parcels can only be sent through the post, and occasionally parcels are lost, so writers’ more important manuscripts are mailed manually.
Many times, some writers are proud of their status and will call publications and say that they have written a manuscript and ask if the publication wants it. If so, they will send someone to pick it up. In order to attract high-quality manuscripts, many publications will send editors to pick it up.
"Contemporary" has such a high status in the industry that no one dares to do this. Usually, the writers send their letters themselves or ask someone to send them.
Er Yue He came to Beijing with the manuscript of the fourth volume of "The Great Emperor Kangxi". This volume contains nearly 500,000 words. The review alone will take at least ten days to half a month. If it needs to be revised, it will take even longer, possibly one or two months, or three or five months. If Er Yue He stayed in Yanjing during this period, he would naturally have plenty of time to travel.
Er Yuehe declined Lin Weimin's suggestion. His identity as a writer is only a part-time job and his main job is a civil servant.
A few years ago, he stayed in Yanjing for several months to revise the first volume, "The Seizure of the Palace and the Initial Reign". This time, he asked for leave from his unit, saying that he was going to Yanjing to deliver the manuscript. The unit was afraid that he would repeat the last situation and repeatedly warned him to come back after delivering the manuscript.
Er Yue He went to the guesthouse upstairs to have a rest. His colleagues in the editorial department sighed as they held the manuscripts. They had originally thought that they could take a two-day break, but now they had no chance.
In recent months, "Contemporary" has lacked any heavyweight novels, so Lin Weimin plans to publish the final work of "Emperor Kangxi" in the eleventh issue.
It is extremely difficult to complete the proofreading of a 500,000-word book in just one month.
Fortunately, the creation of the fourth volume of "Emperor Kangxi", "Chaos in the Palace", took more than two years, which shows Er Yuehe's caution and dedication, and not many parts needed to be revised.
In order to revise the manuscript efficiently, my editorial colleague Er Yuehe made phone calls for several days before communicating all the details that needed to be revised.
In early November, the fourth volume of "Emperor Kangxi", "Chaos in the Palace", was officially published in the eleventh issue of "Contemporary". Due to its large volume, the novel will be divided into two issues, to be published in the eleventh and twelfth issues respectively.
Speaking of it, the first three volumes of the novel "Emperor Kangxi" were published successively in "Contemporary", which caused a huge response and the reviews in the critics were comparable to Yao Xueying's "Li Zicheng".
In terms of audience, "Emperor Kangxi" has a much larger readership than "Li Zicheng".
There are two main reasons for this.
First, "Li Zicheng" is too idealistic, and the King of Rebellion's troops are "Red Armyized", which deviates from historical facts to a certain extent. Readers of this kind of book usually have better historical knowledge than ordinary people, so naturally there are many criticisms about this point. This is the shortcoming of "Li Zicheng".
"The Emperor Kangxi" is relatively stable and realistic in this respect.
The second is the issue of the age of the work. As the last feudal dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, no matter how it performs, has one advantage that must be mentioned, which is that it is close to the present time, historical materials are relatively rich, and most readers are familiar with it. This is the advantage of "Emperor Kangxi".
As one thing grows, another shrinks, and the audience for "The Great Emperor Kangxi" grows.
However, although it received widespread acclaim after its publication, it was not without criticism.
In recent years, the most criticized aspect of the novel "Kangxi the Great" is the "emperor-only historical view" involved in the novel. Although the novel focuses more on the intrigues in officialdom, there are still many media and scholars who criticize the novel for writing biographies and praising the feudal emperors.
This argument has been raised repeatedly in the past two years, but the editorial department of Contemporary Magazine has never responded positively.
At the end of "The Emperor Kangxi", Lin Weimin wrote a special "Editor's Note" to respond to this question.
There are two responses:
First, peddlers and hawkers can write about it, civil and military officials can write about it, and naturally emperors of ancient and modern times can also be written about it. This is not only creative freedom, but also historical materialism that is not based solely on theories of origin.
Secondly, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong are recognized by the historical community as the three great rulers of the era. Not to mention Qianlong, who is considered to be a very exaggerated emperor, the positive historical value of this period cannot be completely erased. Its contribution to the establishment of the modern Chinese territory alone is worth writing about.
With the release of the eleventh issue of Contemporary, Lin Weimin's "Editor's Note" has also sparked a lot of discussion among readers and academia.
A simple editor's note certainly cannot eliminate the controversy, but it was the first positive response from the editorial department of Contemporary Magazine, and it played a positive role in the discussion of the novel among the public and academia.
After the eleventh issue of Contemporary magazine was published, the editorial department had a few days of relaxation.
Lin Weimin received a call from Michael Phillips in the United States. The investment for "The Intouchables" has been in place, the script has been written, and he is now choosing a director.
"Lin, I need your help." Michael Phillips said to Lin Weimin on the phone.
"Help? Mike, how can I help you?"
"Steven Spielberg, do you know?"
"Of course. The director of 'Jaws' and 'ET the Extraterrestrial', you're not going to tell me that you want him to direct 'The Intouchables'?" Lin Weimin said in surprise.
Phillips was very pleased with his surprise, and said with a bit of complacency in his tone, "My friend, it seems that you are quite satisfied with this director?"
Phillips and Spielberg first met during the post-production of Spielberg's first feature film, "Rampage," more than a decade ago, and they have a very close friendship.
"We were just having dinner together and casually talked about the projects I was preparing to produce recently. Steven heard that I was planning to produce "The Intouchables" and started chatting with me.
I saw that Steven was interested in The Intouchables, so I invited him to be the director of the film. Steven was a little embarrassed because he was working on Raiders of the Lost Ark and had a fantasy romance film on hand. "Phillips paused here, and it seemed that he was going to keep the secret.
"Then how did you convince him?" Lin Weimin asked.
Phillips laughed and said, "It's not that I convinced him, but he asked me for something."
"I have a request of yours? What does that mean?" Lin Weimin asked puzzledly.
"He wants the movie rights to your film, Life Is Beautiful Anyway."
"He wants the film rights to Life Is Beautiful? Is this his condition for accepting The Intouchables?"
"That's right!" Phillips explained to Lin Weimin, "Steven really liked your book Life Is Beautiful, No Matter What, which was published in the United States earlier this year. Lin, you may not know that Steven has always planned to make a movie about the persecution of Jews by the Nazis during World War II. This is the pain of their nation."
Lin Weimin immediately thought of the movie "Schindler's List" shot by Spielberg in the 1990s.
"Is he sure he wants to shoot 'Life is Beautiful Anyway'?" Lin Weimin asked.
"That's not certain yet. Lin, you know, a director of Steven's caliber probably has five or six films in various stages of being directed and produced, and he has the copyrights to dozens of films.
Before the film project is officially launched, no one can guarantee that the film will be produced.”
After hearing what Phillips said, Lin Weimin pondered for a moment.
Phillips said, "Lin, is there anything to hesitate about? Steven is now an S-level director in Hollywood. If he is really willing to take over "The Intouchables", including the possibility of directing "Nothing" later, this will definitely be a great thing for you."
"Mike, of course I'm happy that my work has been adapted by a great director, but I'm more afraid that no one will see it."
Phillips immediately understood what he meant, "Are you afraid that Steven will buy the copyright but not shoot it?"
"That's right."
Philip suddenly felt embarrassed. It was true that Steven was a famous Hollywood director, but there was no shortage of people filming Lin Weimin's works. It didn't seem so easy to bring this together!
(End of this chapter)
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