Chapter 798 The Notebook
However, to Lu Yanhe's surprise, even for "The Notebook," Soren had his own ideas about the actors for the film.
Both Arne Bogut and Lily Williams would be top-tier rising stars in Hollywood, attracting considerable attention.
However, Soren was not happy with this combination of actors.
Even in this situation, Sauron was not happy.
Lu Yanhe suddenly felt a sense of unease. He had encountered similar situations before when working with Midoriya and Parameter. For example, with "Buried," it went through many twists and turns before finally ending up with Parameter. And with "Home Alone," no one had high hopes for it, but Midoriya managed to secure the rights with distribution terms that satisfied Lu Yanhe.
"What are they unhappy about?" Lu Yanhe asked Darren Wilson.
Darren Wilson, as the middleman between Lu Yanhe and Soren, should be the one who knows the most.
Darren Wilson said, "The stated reason is that Lily Williams' acting skills are not good enough, and she has often been criticized for her acting in the past."
Lu Yanhe frowned.
Lily Williams' acting skills...
It's not like he hasn't acted with her before.
Some critics nitpick and find fault, simply because Lily Williams is very popular, they will categorize her as a "pretty face." In reality, for popular stars, unless your acting skills are above 90, even an 80 is a sin.
Lu Yanhe said, "Since this is the reason that's on the table, what is your real reason for judging it?"
“This film was entirely funded by Soren. They were responsible for everything from the initial payment to the subsequent production and distribution. However, you had complete control over the production. The production team and the actors were all decided by Linghe and you,” Darren Wilson said. “On the one hand, they need your talent in film, and on the other hand, they need you to give way in terms of control and voice in the film. This is just the beginning. I think they will object to any cast list you propose. This is a test.”
Lu Yanhe smiled.
Lu Yanhe understood what Darren Wilson was saying instantly.
To put it bluntly, it's like when Soren learned about the "Non-Stop" project and wanted to collaborate on it, Lu Yanhe's way of refusing was that he had already decided on all the main creative personnel for the film, and if Soren didn't mind, then they could collaborate. Soren immediately said, "Forget it."
Soren, this newly established company, operates its projects using a different logic than streaming media.
Streaming media buys results with money. Traditional film studios, on the other hand, get involved in a project from the very beginning.
This is not only a consideration to ensure the quality of the final film, but also a way for film companies to consolidate their power in the film industry.
In fact, the money-spending tactics of streaming media are only a phase; they need to use money to break into the market, generate massive amounts of content, and build up this sector.
How long can this strategy of simply throwing money at content without interfering with creative work continue as the development of streaming media reaches a bottleneck?
Nobody knows.
That said, Soren and Lu Yanhe are going to collaborate on three films. To be conservative, Soren will have to invest four or five hundred million US dollars in each of these three films.
No matter how wealthy Sauron was, he would never say, "This is just a little money to play around with."
Furthermore, just as Lu Yanhe wanted to cooperate with Soren because of Soren's financial strength and global distribution guarantee, Soren wanted to cooperate with Lu Yanhe because of Lu Yanhe's prestige in the film industry, his production capabilities, and the achievements of his works.
If the final work can only bear the name "Lu Yanhe," and Soren is just a wealthy "coal boss," then what's the point for Soren? Is it just about making a little profit?
Lu Yanhe told Darren Wilson, "If they are not satisfied with the two lead actors for The Notebook, they can suggest the people they think are more suitable. If the audition results prove that their choices are better, I will not insist on using Arne Bogut and Lily Williams."
Darren Wilson said, "Are you serious?"
“Seriously,” Lu Yanhe said. “Like I said, I don’t necessarily have to cast anyone. This is different from Li Zhibai in ‘Buried’ and Yan Liang in ‘Speed.’ For those two films, I was only willing to work on projects where they absolutely had to be the leads. ‘The Notebook’ is different. For this script, I just thought that Arne Bogut and Lily Williams were suitable.”
Darren Wilson nodded upon hearing this.
"And who's going to direct?"
“We don’t have a suitable candidate yet, so you’ll still need to look for one.” Lu Yanhe shrugged. “Darren, I know I’ve been very insistent on some opinions on past projects, but that doesn’t mean I want to control everything. Soren wants a voice and to be deeply involved in the film production, which I welcome. Linghe only has one film production experience in Hollywood, ‘Flypaper,’ so there are many things that Soren will need to coordinate.”
Darren Wilson breathed a sigh of relief.
"All right."
In fact, Darren Wilson hadn't expected Lu Yanhe to say that.
In Darren Wilson's eyes, Lu Yanhe was indeed exceptionally talented and had a keen eye, but he also had the common flaw of geniuses: he would never compromise on what he insisted on.
Therefore, he never expected that Lu Yanhe would give in at this time.
Lu Yanhe had sensed Darren Wilson's thoughts, which is why he said those things.
The reason he was willing to compromise was, frankly, that he was familiar with both Arne Bogut and Lily Williams because of their past collaborations, and that the two were indeed a good fit, so he made them his first choice for the roles.
But that doesn't mean he can't accept others playing the role—in fact, there are only a handful of people who have received this treatment from Lu Yanhe.
Wan Qingqing is right. Only if he truly succeeds in his first collaboration with Soren and achieves good results will he gain Soren's genuine trust and support in the subsequent two works.
What Lu Yanhe wanted was a genuine, comprehensive global release of Soren, not just a perfunctory fulfillment of contractual terms.
-
Soren clearly hadn't expected that Lu Yanhe not only had no objection to the director's selection, but also agreed to have the two lead actors chosen through auditions.
In fact, while The Notebook was commercially successful, its box office figures were not particularly high compared to other films, with a global box office of just over $100 million.
But it is a classic romance film in the hearts of many movie fans around the world.
When Lu Yanhe went to Solon for a meeting to discuss the preparations for "The Notebook," he made this point very clearly.
"I expect this film to gross around $100 million at the box office," Lu Yanhe said. "As for the production cost of this film, I hope to keep it under $20 million."
The original work cost $29 million to produce.
Although this film is a romance, it spans several eras and was filmed in many locations, which made its production cost very high.
Lu Yanhe frankly said, "Although its return on investment won't be particularly high in terms of box office results, it will continue to sell well in the streaming and DVD markets, just like my other film, Love Letter. For Soren, the most important thing is that it will become a representative work of the romance genre among Soren's films."
Lu Yanhe spoke frankly, but to others, his words sounded somewhat overconfident.
Unlike Parameter and Midoriya, who were already familiar with Lu Yanhe's style, Soren's men were all somewhat unaccustomed to it.
They are not only collaborating with Lu Yanhe, but also working on several film projects.
No one but Lu Yanhe can plan the future and positioning of a film so clearly.
The key question is, can what he said be considered valid?
This is the biggest difference between people who have worked with him and those who haven't.
Back then, Zeb Doyle of Parameter didn't believe that Buried could really be a big hit with a small budget, or even that it would be a "big" one. Schmidt Laurie of Midoriya also didn't believe that Home Alone would be a blockbuster. The blockbuster made them regret not opening it in more than 4,000 theaters from the beginning, missing out on a lot of box office revenue.
Therefore, Lu Yanhe did it on purpose.
Even if Sauron and his group have doubts and don't believe it, this persona still needs to be established.
Once a persona is established, when the movie is released, people who initially question him will later find him to be incredibly talented.
Anyway, no matter how "arrogant" he is, Sauron will not go against him.
He was, after all, an undefeated "chosen one".
-
After Soren's people held two meetings with him and discovered that Lu Yanhe really didn't care about the main creators and was open to anyone, their opposition to Lily Williams actually subsided.
But Soren still held a high-profile audition.
It's nothing, every move we make should let the industry know that Sauron is currently "thriving" and it's time for him to make a big splash.
Especially—
This is Lu Yanhe's first film collaboration with Soren.
Soren invited quite a few actors to audition.
In Hollywood, auditions are an industry norm. Even the biggest stars don't think they can "skip" this process.
Of course, well-known actors don't have to wait in line like in an open audition.
Arne Bogut and Lily Williams were personally invited by Lu Yanhe to audition.
The two of them, the former had just finished filming "Flypaper" and the latter was one of the candidates for the female lead in "Speed," and had always maintained a good relationship with Lu Yanhe.
This time, Lu Yanhe's new play has approached them again, so of course they will come.
There were quite a few actors auditioning.
There are several A-list actors among them.
They all came because of his reputation—because of Lu Yanhe's name.
For romantic movies like this, auditions are often not for one person, but for whether there is chemistry between two actors, or what is commonly known as "couple chemistry".
In this respect, Arne Bogut and Lily Williams have a clear advantage.
The reason for saying this is that the two have already worked together, are familiar with each other, and have a natural understanding.
After reviewing the film, Lu Yanhe felt that unless Soren had someone he wanted to promote, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that Arne Bogut and Lily Williams were the most suitable choices for the movie.
It remains to be seen whether Soren will continue to insist on replacing Lily Williams in order to ensure his control over the film.
If Soren still insists at that time, Lu Yanhe feels that no normal person would say anything if he insisted on using Lily Williams.
This movie has many roles and requires a large cast.
Lu Yanhe doesn't intend to insist on casting the actors he feels are most suitable for every role. His standard is: he absolutely cannot cast actors he deems unsuitable. On this basis, in a film, everyone has their own interests and stance, and it's impossible to completely adhere to artistic standards.
Therefore, when Soren proposed several candidates for important supporting roles in the film, Lu Yanhe only raised objections to one of them.
“Before ‘The Mist’ was released, he publicly accused me on his social media of using my Asian identity to create a false impression that the crew oppressed me,” Lu Yanhe said. “I refused to work with him.”
The people on Soren's side looked at each other in bewilderment.
They seemed unaware of this additional layer of relationship.
However, regardless of what they thought deep down, after Lu Yanhe spoke, they still decisively decided to eliminate this person.
A shortlist of candidates was drawn up for each role, with three choices for each role, ranked from highest to lowest in terms of preference.
There are multiple candidates because some actors may have scheduling conflicts, and some actors may have entered the contract negotiation stage, but the negotiations may fall apart due to reasons such as salary.
It came down to choosing the male and female leads.
Lu Yanhe did not speak, but waited for Soren's people to speak first.
But strangely enough, no one on their side spoke up for a while either.
After a few seconds of silence, Lu Yanhe said, "Judging from the results of the auditions, I still stand by my initial choice: Arne Bogut and Lily Williams. Their image, acting skills, and the chemistry between them all perfectly match my vision when I was writing this script."
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A few days later, Darren Wilson sent word to Lu Yanhe that Soren had finally agreed to use Arne Bogut and Lily Williams, and had already begun negotiating contracts with the two actors' agents.
Based on market rates for Arne Bogut and Lily Williams, both are valued between $2.5 million and $3.5 million.
For example, Arne Bogut was paid $2 million for his role in "Flypaper".
For the budget of The Notebook, this is an affordable price.
Lu Yanhe didn't think he would encounter any problems during the negotiations.
However, he was indeed thinking too soon.
Arne Bogut's agent actually wanted to secure a share of the box office revenue for him.
Everyone knows this is unrealistic. Arne Bogut is simply not at the stage where he can receive box office revenue sharing.
The executive in charge of the film on Soren's side was a bit annoyed.
Lu Yanhe did not intervene in this matter.
He didn't know why Arne Bogut's agent would make such a demand, but something was definitely amiss.
Arne Bogut was an actor he actively wanted to use, so if he intervened at this time, he would easily be "oppressed by both sides" and be unjustly "punished" by Soren.
Moreover, as an actor himself, Lu Yanhe knew very well that an agent's quote was often the result of considering various circumstances and had many intentions.
Chen Ziyan also helped Lu Yanhe "ask exorbitant prices".
Two days later, Medal Larry, the executive in charge of the Notebook project and one of the film's producers, came to the hotel where Lu Yanhe was staying to discuss Arne Bogut with him in person.
Soren wants to get rid of Arne Bogut and replace him.
Lu Yanhe asked, "Have you communicated with him personally and his management team?"
“Of course.” Medel shook her head, looking helpless. “They’re asking for an exorbitant amount.”
“Alright,” Lu Yanhe said. “Medell, if you were to replace Arne, who would you choose?”
Medel said, "Archie Lange."
Archie Lange is also a rising young actor in Hollywood, two years younger than Arne Bogut, who rose to fame through an American TV series.
Lu Yanhe remained noncommittal about this person, saying, "If we can't reach an agreement on Arne's offer in the end, I have no objection to replacing him with Archie Lange."
Medel breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
Lu Yanhe smiled, picked up his phone, and asked, "Medell, would you mind if I called Arne himself about this? I've worked with him before, and whatever the final outcome, I hope this doesn't become a misunderstanding between us and cause a rift in our relationship."
Medel nodded: "Of course, I wouldn't mind."
-
Arne Bogut answered the phone immediately.
He said somewhat apologetically, "Yan He, I'm sorry, I can't act in this movie."
Lu Yanhe was taken aback.
This was an answer Lu Yanhe hadn't expected.
Is there no way to act it out?
Why did you audition in the first place?
"Did you take on another role?" Lu Yanhe asked.
“No,” Arne Bogut said. “It’s for personal reasons, alas, I’m sorry.”
"It's nothing." Lu Yanhe thought for a moment and decided to be frank. "Arne, we're friends, which is why I want to work with you on every role that suits you. If you can't act in this movie, why did you audition before?"
Arne Bogut hesitated for a long time, stammering as if he had something difficult to say.
Lu Yanhe was about to say forget it, if you don't want to talk about it, then don't. But then, Arne Bogut said, "I have a girlfriend, but we haven't made it public. She saw the news that Lily and I went to the audition together, and she also found out that it was a romance movie. She... she has always been bothered by my relationship with Lily."
Lu Yanhe was dumbfounded.
He never imagined that Arne Bogut couldn't star in "The Notebook" for this reason.
“Alne, if that’s the case, you could have just told me directly. There’s no need for your agent to offer a condition that Soren can’t accept at all.”
“I…” Arne Bogut sighed, “To tell you the truth, because this is your movie, I’m embarrassed to let you know that I can’t act in it because of this, and I’m also embarrassed to let Lily know.”
Lu Yanhe was speechless.
-
Speechless, but that's how movie making is.
You never know where or what unexpected changes might occur.
After hanging up the phone, Lu Yanhe came out of the room and said to Medel, "Let's contact Archie Lange."
Medel nodded.
He did not ask Lu Yanhe about the specific content of Lu Yanhe's phone call with Arne Bogut.
This result is sufficient.
-
The day before Lu Yanhe joined the cast of "Cloud", he received a call from Liu Bige.
Liu Bige said that "Dingfeng No. 1" is very likely to participate in the Venice International Film Festival in September.
I had been meaning to give this movie to Satur for a while, but for some reason, nothing ever happened.
Liu Bige said, "After some internal analysis, Longyan felt that if 'Dingfeng No. 1' were to participate in the Xituer, it wouldn't have much of an advantage. The film's subject matter is espionage, not a mainstream art film."
"Of course, there's another point: the people in Venice have been trying to persuade me to take 'The Wind Rises' to Venice."
Liu Bige himself made his fortune at the Venice International Film Festival.
"Late Spring" won a major award in Venice.
According to the conventions of international film festivals, Liu Bige is actually a protégé of the Venice International Film Festival.
It's perfectly normal for his film to be nominated for the Venice Film Festival.
Lu Yanhe said, "Sure, it would be great for 'Dingfeng No. 1' to go to Venice. Venice has always been quite friendly to Chinese-language films."
Liu Bige nodded and then asked, "Do you have time to go to Venice with us in September?"
"Me? After I finish filming 'Cloud in the Sky,' I don't have any other projects to film. I have a lot of free time, so there shouldn't be any problems," Lu Yanhe said.
Liu Bige: "I'll only feel at ease if you can go."
"Come on," Lu Yanhe said with a smile. "Let's try to win the Best Director award this time."
"I'd like to."
-
"Dingfeng No. 1" is the last relatively serious film that Lu Yanhe has on hand, with a film festival focus.
Chen Ziyan said, "I hope this movie can bring you another Best Actor award."
"Will they be that fast? Although I've never won an award in Venice," Lu Yanhe said. "I've been winning awards quite frequently in recent years, and I think so myself."
Chen Ziyan rolled her eyes at Lu Yanhe, "Who would complain about winning too many awards?"
"It's not that I'm complaining about taking too much; I'm wondering if they're deliberately making things difficult for me because I'm taking too much."
“But of the four major international awards, you’ve only won one Situation Award so far, and you haven’t won any of the other three,” Chen Ziyan said. “In my opinion, after winning an Oscar last year, it will be relatively easier for you to win awards in the four major international awards.”
"Why?"
“I can’t quite explain it, it’s just a feeling,” Chen Ziyan said. “However, almost all of your recent projects are commercial films and genre films. I’ve already sensed a growing dissatisfaction with you in the comments section. Several influential figures who used to admire you have mentioned that you’re becoming obsessed with making blockbusters.”
"..." Lu Yanhe was helpless.
Of course, what they said is also a fact.
"The timing of the release of 'Dingfeng No. 1' is just right, and it can make up for some of the shortcomings," Chen Ziyan said.
Lu Yanhe said, "We still need to try to do both, right?"
“Yes,” Chen Ziyan said. “That’s why I said I hope you win another award at Venice this time. You’ve had too many commercial films approved and exposed in the past year. To some people, that means you’ve been tainted by worldly concerns. We won’t comment on whether that view is right or wrong, but we should try not to let such a view become a mainstream voice attacking you.”
(End of this chapter)
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