Chapter 280 Wu Baige Goes to Hollywood
During the release of "Source Code", Liu Hongmin has been thinking about the outline of the next "World of Warcraft" trilogy.
The World of Warcraft series is a very profitable project, and Liu Hongmin is reluctant to give it up. But after The Frozen Throne, it is difficult to write the sequel. Because in the history of World of Warcraft, no one can match Arthas, whether it is Jaina, Sylvanas, King Varian, or Thrall.
The inability to select a protagonist made it difficult for the next trilogy to be born.
Richard has called several times to inquire about this, after all, this is also the most profitable series of novels at Random House.
"Source Code" has been taken off the screen, and Liu Hongmin has not yet decided who he will write about.
At this time, Xu Ke suddenly came to visit, and he brought someone with him, Wu Baige.
In the original history, Xu Ke and Wu Baige had a disagreement over "A Better Tomorrow" and parted ways. Now, Xu Ke is more cooperating with Tomorrow Film Company and has worked with Jet Li to produce the "Once Upon a Time in China" series in advance. Therefore, he does not have much time to take care of Wu Baige and allows Wu Baige to shoot his own movies.
The box office of "Hard Boiled" was quite good, earning 2000 million yuan. However, many people praised the film and believed that it could win an award at the 90 Academy Awards.
Wu Baige had been very successful since A Better Tomorrow, so he was full of confidence. Suddenly, he received an invitation from Hollywood to shoot a movie.
Xu Ke also supported him very much and said to him: "You are more familiar with Hong Kong movies and are unfamiliar with Hollywood. If you shoot a movie according to their ideas, you may not be able to grasp it well. So, I suggest you shoot and change a Hong Kong movie or novel."
Wu Baige agrees with Xu Ke's words. If he becomes successful in Hollywood, he may step out of his comfort zone. After all, he will be qualified to challenge himself at that time, and even if he fails, he will not be a complete failure.
But now that he is new here, he naturally wants to shoot what he is good at. And what he is best at is the double hero movie.
He started thinking, should he shoot an American version of "A Better Tomorrow"?
Then he shook his head. Society films are also a popular subject in the United States, and there are many classics. The Godfather is there, like an unbreakable mountain. Although he didn't think that a movie would surpass decades of Hollywood classics, if it could make a big splash, why not do it?
Finally, he set his sights on a novel, "Face/Off", which is also a novel with two heroes, and the police and the criminal exchange identities, making it very dramatic.
Wu Baige has loved this movie since he saw it. He often asks Xu Ke to find out if Ming Tian Film Company has any idea to adapt this novel. If Ming Tian Film Company wants to make changes, he will apply to be the director.
Unfortunately, Tomorrow Films has never thought of adapting "Face/Off", and no one knows why.
However, the story of "Face/Off" is also a good material for Hollywood. If it can be filmed in Hollywood, it may really be a blockbuster. You know, police and gangster films are also popular themes in Hollywood, but the status of police and gangster films as classics is not as unbreakable as "The Godfather".
So, Wu Baige found Xu Ke and asked him to take her to see Liu Hongmin to discuss the purchase of the copyright.
When Liu Hongmin heard why they came, he couldn't help but laugh.
"That's no problem, but the specific details still need to be discussed with the Hollywood film company."
Wu Baige was happy, "Of course, Face/Off is also a bestseller in the West, I think Hollywood will definitely want to adapt it."
"I will let Feng Kan take care of the negotiations. When you arrive in Hollywood, just contact him directly." Liu Hongmin gave Feng Kan's contact information to Wu Baige, who was very grateful.
The next day, Liu Hongmin went to the company and ran into Xu Ke. He called Xu Ke to his office and asked, "Director Xu, have you ever thought about going to Hollywood?"
Xu Ke nodded, "Of course I yearn for Hollywood, but I just haven't had the right opportunity!"
He looked at Liu Hongmin hopefully, "Mr. Liu, do you have any other ideas?"
Liu Hongmin smiled, waved his hand and said, "I do have a way, but I don't recommend you go to Hollywood."
Xu Ke was stunned, "Why?"
"Director Xu, you are an author-type director. It can be said that most of the movies you shoot are made with your unique ideas. If you lose those unique ideas, will you still make movies? Hollywood has a very complete crew structure. The director is just a tool for making movies and has no room for free play."
After hearing what Liu Hongmin said, Xu Ke began to think. Then he asked, "Mr. Liu, isn't our company like this too?"
Liu Hongmin explained: "Although our company has a more complete crew structure than other Hong Kong film companies, our company also focuses on the personal ability of the director. Brother Xiaoming likes to follow the script when filming, because after working with me, the script is complete, so he doesn't need to make changes. At the same time, the company did not impose too many restrictions on you when filming the "Huang Feihong" series. As long as your ideas are reasonable and can better help the film, the company will adopt them in the end, right?"
Xu Ke nodded, "Indeed."
He said with some regret: "It seems that I will never have the chance to go to Hollywood in this lifetime."
Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "If you really want to go, we can cooperate with them once or twice and launch a few projects together. When the time comes, you can be the director of the one you like."
"Thank you, Mr. Liu!" Xu Ke smiled. After listening to Liu Hongmin's words, he was no longer so eager to become a Hollywood movie director.
However, he asked curiously: "Mr. Liu, why didn't you persuade Bai Ge yesterday?"
"I'm not saying anything bad about Director Wu," Liu Hongmin whispered, "I've watched quite a few of Director Wu's films, and I've found that he is indeed very talented in certain areas. But beyond that area, his talent isn't that great."
"You mean the white pigeon is biased?"
"It's not so easy to cross the comfort zone." Liu Hongmin said pointedly: "If Director Wu keeps shooting films about gangs, police and gangsters, he can indeed stay in Hollywood. But if he makes other types of films, it is estimated that he will not be able to do so."
Wu Baige shot films in Hollywood such as "The Ultimate Target", "Broken Arrow", "Face/Off", and "Mission Impossible 2", which were all very popular at the box office. However, "Windtalkers" knocked him off the altar and he had to leave Hollywood.
(End of this chapter)
