Chapter 106 I Want It All (Two in One)
As Su Yun's transitional work, "Leon: The Professional" in which she adapted many details was released on Thanksgiving Day, November 27. However, it did not cause a sensation as in the past.
Because the plot greatly weakens the hazy and hidden ambiguity between the hero and heroine, what most people see is just the tenderness of two lonely people redeeming each other and the exhilarating new fighting style - although this is indeed a heartwarming and touching story, but compared with various outstanding works released before and after this year, it can only be regarded as a relatively mediocre art-oriented commercial film.
Knowing that even in the 1990s when the original version was released, it would have attracted a lot of criticism because the superficial meaning of the story crossed the line that many people could not touch, Su Yun is now trying to keep a low profile in the North American version, only slightly adding changes to the more acceptable Japanese version, so that a vague emotional line can be conveyed through those intoxicating green eyes.
Therefore, the true face of this story still needs to wait for time to polish and settle, and only in the future when people's average level of film appreciation improves can it see the light of day.
Compared to the film productions that Su Yun has participated in before, whether it is "Artificial Intelligence" whose special effects technology refreshed the concept of the era, or "The Exorcist" which became a horror classic, or "Memoirs of a Geisha" full of Japanese style, and "The Sixth Sense" with suspense and warmth but a surprising twist at the ending, and "Great White Shark" which opened the precedent of deep-sea horror and almost destroyed the summer beach tourism industry... This new work is unusually calm, as if the undercurrents underneath are hidden in the deepest darkness and have never been seen by the world.
However, the reputation of "Leon: The Professional" among film critics is much better than Su Yun's previous works - the corresponding phenomenon is the inevitable phenomenon of good reputation but low attendance.
Coincidentally, this year's Thanksgiving Day was also Lu Shaolong's birthday.
When Su Yun made a long-distance phone call to congratulate her master on his birthday on the night of the first snowfall, Lu Shaolong, who was in a much better spirit, gave high praise to Su Yun's new work.
"Master, you are really not trying to comfort me, are you? From the premiere to the preview, many people were not optimistic about it, and the feedback from the attendance today was not that good either." Su Yun made a little joke.
"Do you really think so?" Perhaps influenced by his studies in philosophy and traditional oriental implicit and hazy aesthetics, Lu Shaolong foresaw something else in the videotape Su Yun sent him that few people had noticed yet. "In addition to creating a new fighting style and innovating in filming and narrative techniques, the focus of your new work is also on the character images of the male and female protagonists and their relationship mode, right?"
"Master is worthy of being the master. Many people fail to notice this point. I think that only after time has passed can the charm of this new film be slowly unearthed." Even though she secretly asked Ovitz to bribe a lot of film critics who were paid to write good reviews as water troops, in terms of the information transmission of this era, the effect was far inferior to that of the Internet era in later generations.
Well-known and prestigious film critics are careful about their reputation and are not easy to bribe, so they can only express their thoughts after watching a movie as they please; most of the film critics who can make a living are only semi-famous, and the profits from marketing conversion are not very high.
Of course, the quality of the film is there, and there are quite a few positive reviews for its quality and content.
However, quality and reputation are only the focus of people in the industry. The box office, which is the most concerned issue, is always limited by the sensitivity of the subject matter of this era and the influence of the film's audience.
By the time the film was taken off the screen in North America, and taking into account the estimated sales of videotapes and discs, "Leon: The Professional" was barely able to break even; if only the box office revenue was counted, it could even be considered a small loss.
This was the first time that the box office tanked, and the word of mouth was not universally praised but rather had a mixed reputation. Although one failure was nothing for Su Yun at this age, compared to her previous record of making a lot of money and fame, this failure was a bit embarrassing.
After all, the process of her rise to fame as a little girl from the East actually has some of the typical style of the American Dream. This "collapse of personality" not only eroded the goodwill of many people who regarded her as a little idol, but also fueled the arrogance of those who already hated her.
"Without all those fancy post-production special effects, Marie Sue is nothing!"
"A grown man and an underage girl redeeming each other?! What on earth are those metaphors hinting at? Anyone with eyes can see it!"
"At such a young age, she has already mastered the art of hype, and even used the past relationship between Alain Delon and Romy Schneider to hype up her marketing!"
"Everyone has box office failures sometimes, but the script that Mary Sue chose this time was indeed problematic. Has her vision for selecting scripts deteriorated with age?"
"Mary Sue shouldn't have chosen this script. Her strength is the special effects that seem to transcend her time. Of course, we have to admit that even for an oriental face, her looks are good enough - so, I think she should continue to participate in the behind-the-scenes production of things like "Star Trek" or "The Exorcist" or play some beautiful foreign girl roles that suit her, so as to gradually gain a firm foothold, rather than being too aggressive in challenging new themes..."
The above comments are all mildly worded. There are also more disgusting and filthy comments, but Ovitz and his partners have filtered them out. If you really want to see them, you will find all kinds of positive, negative, fair and weird comments mixed together, one after another.
"Are you okay?" Ovitz asked carefully as he watched Su Yun calmly reading newspapers and magazines, as if he was afraid of hurting her fragile heart.
"I'm fine. I had anticipated this outcome when I started filming this movie - actually the current situation is better than I expected." She and Jared were not considered box office poison; they just failed in their film selection. Spielberg was famous for innovating a new film style rather than making bad films, and the box office of the movie was not disappointing. Therefore, this "failure" in the eyes of the world was considered a success in her eyes.
"So what are you going to do next?" Ovitz took out his itinerary notebook and wanted to record Su Yun's future schedule.
"I will probably focus on the improved design of Apple II and DOS operating system during this period. I will probably be in California until January next year." When Apple and Microsoft were first established, they were still small companies with less than ten people in total, and the only R&D personnel were the bosses themselves. Su Yun rarely had time off during this period of time, so she had to go over to help.
Logically speaking, the technology is almost mature, and what they lack now is the correct ideas, so they can only choose to use trial and error to find the best path for improvement and development - and what Su Yun currently has is the optimal solution obtained by predecessors after continuous trial and error.
"Is there anything else I need to do?" Ovitz asked again.
"Yes, I've prepared a new movie. Last night, Steven called me and said he had taken on a new movie and couldn't direct it anymore, so he recommended his friend George Lucas to me." Su Yun handed a plan to Ovitz. "Director Lucas is planning to make a science fiction action movie recently, so he specially created a new film special effects production company called 'Industrial Light & Magic'."
"He wanted me to join the company as a production consultant under the name of Future Dream Studios, and in exchange, Lucas would personally direct my next new film."
Ovitz thought about George Lucas's resume - he and Su Yun had a connection. Su Yun's first overseas work, Artificial Intelligence, had surpassed his American Graffiti by a slight margin at the box office. But if you think about it carefully, the investment in Artificial Intelligence far exceeded that in American Graffiti. So the most profitable box office dark horse in 1974 was American Graffiti and George Lucas.
Moreover, Lucas also received five nominations for Best Director, Best Picture and other awards for his films when Su Yun won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. His strength is definitely sufficient.
"Are you going to shoot Home Alone or Wonder Girl?" Ovitz said as he opened the folder Su Yun handed over. "If George Lucas directs it, his style should be more like Wonder Girl..."
At this point, Ovitz almost choked when he looked down at the new film plan.
After a while, Ovitz recovered and raised his head again, staring at Su Yun seriously: "Are you sure you want to shoot this? And the choice of actors is so unique?"
"I referred to Lucas' style and came up with a new plan after careful consideration." Compared to the conservative approach of using children's films like "Home Alone" or "Wonder Girls" to return to the ranks of child actors but with a steady increase in box office, Su Yun is more inclined to do something big and then use this opportunity to start the transformation.
“只是一部普通的青春愛情片，值得請這些大牌？而且還要加入不少的華人配角？”奧維茨越看，就越覺得自己已經開始又看到一個勉強湊數才能算是回本的《這個殺手不太冷》二號了……
“相信我，如果現在不拍的話，可能以後也湊不出這個陣容了。”那幾個答應客串的大牌明星都是通過人際關系和因緣際會而湊到一起的，而且這部電影裏還有着大量的青少年和兒童角色，十分适合湊一波中外明星幼年體大集合。
“你要知道，我真正的出道作，從來就不是他們眼裏的特效科幻電影，而是一部喜劇愛情電影。”蘇韻意味深長地說。
“但是這個題材，華納應該不太願意投資……”作為蘇韻的經紀人，奧維茨當然是比誰都清楚蘇韻這一路歷程，但看着手裏的新項目策劃案……雖然故事很好角度也新穎，但是群戲和單純的少年愛情主線，又确實是太冒險。
甚至比之前的《這個殺手不太冷》都要冒險——最起碼《這個殺手不太冷》還能蹭點功夫片的餘溫和動作片的熱度，而這一部新作卻是實打實的現實劇情，還是從來沒有人嘗試過的懷舊小清新味道的少年少女愛情故事。
“我最近在任天堂那邊收了一筆分成，加上《這個殺手不太冷》反饋回來的票房分成數額，然後再加上華夏新年時我回香江與佳和的鄒先生談一下我把他的人帶到這邊刷資歷，他負責出一部分投資作為鋪路……應該是能湊夠了。”蘇韻簡單解釋了一下她預先想好的湊錢方案。
“難怪你要用香江的演員作為一部分配角，除了角色設定之外，也是為了從香江那邊拿到投資……”奧維茨恍然大悟：蘇韻這孩子，真的是把利益交換互惠互利這一點給玩到了極致。
“所以未來的一段時間，我都會在忙于拉投資和尋找香江那邊的演員的事情上，美國這邊的前期準備，都拜托你了。”蘇韻和奧維茨握了握手，定下了兩邊奔走的約定。
于是，1976年的年關時節，在大雪紛飛的北美回到陽光明媚的香江時，蘇韻第一時間就摸上了佳和的門。
從蘇韻口中得到了她的新電影項目計劃內容，這兩年靠着許家兄弟的喜劇片賺了不少的鄒運華沉吟片刻，果斷咬牙撥了300萬美元的投資出來，就打算如蘇韻的提議，送自己公司旗下的一部分人出國拍片“刷資歷”。
由此可見，比起固守香江市場的趙氏，鄒運華是真的對國際市場執着得很。
“那另外的家庭成員，你是打算怎麽選？我們這裏暫時沒有能唱歌又形象好的後生靓仔。”許顧傑雖然也還是青年演員的小生級，但蘇韻新電影劇本裏面的女主角哥哥一角，設定的年齡段是需要美國高中生的年齡範圍，因此實在是不适合。
畢竟許顧傑這一次是又要重操當年的舊業，畫點老妝飾演蘇韻在劇裏的父親一角了。
“打gg海選一輪嘛，香江地人傑地靈，應該能選出來，而且順便還要選幾個童年期的小演員。”懷着不可告人小心思的蘇韻小手一揮，“辛苦你了，契爺！”
“誰叫我是你契爺呢……唉。”許顧傑一副認命的樣子接過了蘇韻手裏的宣傳gg單，“我一會正好要去中環拿定制的西裝，順便過去找朋友幫你貼gg紙喽。”
在蘇韻點頭哈腰賣乖的“辛苦辛苦”聲中走出公司，搭車到中環的老牌洋服店時，許顧傑忽然就看到了一個有點眼熟的身影。
“阿Sam！”來拿衣服卻遇到偶像，譚昀倫當即就興高采烈地喊了一聲。
看到是最近的新秀樂隊溫拿的兩個成員，許顧傑微笑着點了點頭：“你們也來定制衣服啊？”
“是啊是啊，今日真是幸運，我居然能碰到你！”雖然已經有了一定的名氣，但譚昀倫在面對許顧傑這種開山怪級別時，依然還是沙雕小粉絲的模樣。
但許顧傑卻是不會把他們當作是偶遇的小粉絲了：去年的電影票房統計，佳和這邊由他們幾兄弟合作的《天才與白癡》收到了455萬票房，雖然仍是年度票房冠軍，但相比去年《鬼馬雙星》的625萬票房來說，已經是下滑了不少。
反倒是趙氏的《傾國傾城》比去年有所提升，到達了243萬。
不過，最讓人矚目的還是溫拿這個新秀樂隊所主演的、由一家小電影公司出品的電影《大家樂》，票房足有190萬，是實實在在的把歌壇人氣轉化為了票房利益，由此可見他們在年輕人圈子裏的受歡迎程度。
不知道以後會成為朋友還是對手，但對方已經到了這個位置，那就必須給予同等地位的尊重。
兩人閑聊了幾句，譚昀倫眼尖，看到旁邊桌子上的一疊宣傳單時，順手拿了一張看了起來。
“喂，你不是吧，這裏寫明了要識得唱歌的後生靓仔，而且年齡限度十五至二十歲呀，你今年貴庚啊？”鐘振途好奇地湊過來看了一眼，語氣其實也是帶了點不确定的調侃：雖然譚昀倫已經二十五歲，但其實模樣長得還是有點娃娃臉，化妝得嫩點扮成二十歲，也不是不可能。
“你想到哪裏去了啊，我都已經是那麽成熟的男人了——我拿給丹尼仔的！”譚昀倫說着，就湊到鐘振途耳邊說了起來，“你也知道，雖然丹尼仔他老豆當初是勉強同意了他去學音樂，但是心裏面始終都還是想他學完之後，回家裏的表行幫手……”
“我們的樂隊現在又基本已經成形，不好再增減人數，丹尼仔這次放假回來，如果一個弄不好，可能他們家又得鬧一次。”
“而這個gg紙上面寫明——獲得角色的人可以拿到一首瑪麗蘇作曲填詞的歌，并且會有佳和幫忙聯系音樂公司制作成單曲……要是丹尼仔能選上這個角色拿到歌或者一個不留神在外國紅了，那麽以後面對他老豆那邊時，就有籌碼講數了。”
“難為你想得那麽長遠。”鐘振途感慨了一聲，也是趕緊拿了一張宣傳單。
言者無心，聽者有意。
這邊的好兄弟在為小團隊裏的小弟弟操碎了心時，旁邊過來取修補衣服的一個老女傭，也是無聲地從桌子上的那疊宣傳單裏抽了一張出來。
帶着一大袋子東西回到自家少爺仔的租房裏，看到張榷嵘穿着一身老頭背心大褲衩的在床上睡得四仰八叉，老女傭立刻心疼地喊了一聲：“十仔，最近工作好辛苦啊？”
張榷嵘驚了一下，揉着眼睛坐起來：“還好……不是很辛苦。”
“得啦，你不用再哄我了，外面揾食有多艱難，六姐我比哪個都明白——喏，給你的。”老女傭六姐把手裏的宣傳單遞過去。
“什麽來的？”張榷嵘下意識地接過。
“我在店裏面聽人說的，說是什麽比賽的宣傳單，選上了能出歌拍戲……”六姐沒什麽文化，勉強是把自己聽到的消息轉述出來。
“這我哪裏能行啊，我又沒學過唱歌又沒學過拍戲，要是有專業學過這些的，我這不就是一下子就被人比下來了嗎？”張榷嵘看清楚了宣傳單上的內容，有點哭笑不得。
“還沒開始就想退縮了？阿十，這可不是你了。”六姐絮絮叨叨地一邊收拾着淩亂的雜物一邊教訓着自家從小看到大的少爺仔，然後又摸索着從衣兜內袋裏掏出了20元，“拿着吧，這麽大個人了，還不會照顧自己！”
“我有錢啊，六姐！”張榷嵘連忙推卻：果然什麽事都瞞不到她，自己剛剛開始工作一時沒注意花光了錢連車費都沒有的狀态，還是被看出來了。
但是六姐的工資本來就很不多……
“你要去比賽，這多少是作為長輩給晚輩的祝福，一定要拿着。”知道這孩子是不好說沒錢，六姐強行把錢塞到了他手裏。
張榷嵘這才默默地收下了錢：“多謝……”
“傻仔來的，說什麽多謝，好好的把獎勵贏回來，就是最好的報答了。”六姐吃力地抱着一大堆雜物去整理收拾了。
看着那個記憶中溫暖可靠但現實裏卻是已經略顯佝偻的背影，張榷嵘捏緊了手裏的紙幣，骨子裏那種叛逆不服輸以及既然要做就要盡全力做到最好的鬥志，便在這一刻燃燒了起來。
而他不知道的是，與此同時，同樣從親友團手裏接過宣傳單和接受到親友勸慰的陳柏楊，也是放下了心裏對從前美麗誤會的一點介懷，開始有了為自己的未來而奮鬥的決心。
當然，大概所有人都不知道，那一場即使在鬥争最激烈的年代裏也是足夠轟轟烈烈的“紅紫之争”，在兩位當事人尚未正式遇見的情況下，就已經在冥冥中預定下了伏筆。
After the first day of auditions, Su Yun inevitably fell into deep thought as she faced the two transcripts that had been selected.
"What do you think? Both of them are good-looking, and even have similar charms. No. 7 Chen Baiyang has a good voice and singing skills, and he studied at a professional music school abroad, but unfortunately his acting skills are so-so; No. 12 Zhang Querong has a natural acting talent, but his voice is a bit deep, and you can tell from his singing skills that he hasn't received much study and training..."
Su Yun picked up the pen and ticked the number 7 on the report card.
Xu Gujie nodded, and when he was about to say something, Su Yun's hand moved slightly and ticked the report card of No. 12.
"Are you planning to have another round of rematches to decide the winner?" Xu Gujie thought he roughly understood Su Yun's decision-making difficulty and asked.
Su Yun shook her head and said with satisfaction while holding the two report cards: "No, I want them all - the 'brother' character in this movie is a pair of twins."