A widower's entertainment

Chapter 435 [Science Fiction Master] (Please Subscribe)
Undoubtedly, when Warner Bros. producer George read Lin Youcheng's script for "Interstellar," he was deeply moved. With space adventure on one side and touching emotions on the other, George felt that the story of "Interstellar" was more hardcore than the science fiction of the previous "The Time Traveler's Wife."

But no matter how hard science fiction it seems—wormholes, black holes, space adventures, multidimensional space—these aren't the core of the story. The core is still family and love. Science and theory ultimately serve emotions, using a hard shell to wrap the softest feelings, and it is precisely for this reason that George is so moved.

Love is a power that allows people to perceive its existence beyond time and space.

"An amazing story!"

"Lin, I think if your story were published as a novel, it might win you the Hugo Award again."

In George's opinion, Lin Youcheng's story "Interstellar" is absolutely worthy of the Hugo Award, as it contains too many amazing ideas.

Lin Youcheng smiled upon hearing George's words and said, "That's a good suggestion."

George nodded repeatedly, very optimistic that the story would win the Hugo Award. Looking at Lin Youcheng, he praised excitedly, "This story is so beautiful!"

That's right, it's beauty!
In George's view, this beauty is not only because the whole story is so close to the vast starry sky, so touching to the strings of life, and so immersive in a five-dimensional illusion, full of incredible science fiction imagination, but also because the most beautiful thing is that the most real and warm emotions and waiting naturally seep into the grand and tragic human epic of space migration.

George was truly captivated by the story, which wrapped genuine emotions within a grand narrative. Lin Youcheng, the Eastern screenwriter, undoubtedly expressed it with masterful skill.

Although George didn't understand some of the scientific concepts involved, he found them all very real, as he knew about black holes. Of course, science fiction movies aren't science itself and are naturally full of fantasy, but Lin Youcheng's story was clearly not just fantasy; it also contained some knowledge of physics.

Clearly, George thought the script for Interstellar was brilliant and there was no reason to reject it. However, George was also well aware that making the film was no easy task.

"Lin, it might not be easy to film this script."

George was well aware that making a hard science fiction film was no easy task, especially a script like "Interstellar" written by Lin Youcheng.

Lin Youcheng was well aware of this as well, and nodded, saying, "Yes, and I think this movie still needs a certain level of special effects technology. Maybe we can wait until the technology is ready before filming."

Lin Youcheng knew that the actual filming of *Interstellar* wouldn't begin until after the turn of the millennium. Back then, director Christopher Nolan spent six months planting 3 acres of cornfields. This was because the director disdained simply finding an existing cornfield and then digitally adding a snow-capped mountain backdrop. Therefore, the team painstakingly found a suitable environment on location, planting 500 acres of corn, which grew perfectly within six months before filming began. Fortunately, the film depicts the final cornfields ultimately withering, so a perfect harvest wasn't necessary.

In addition, the crew also created an artificial "dust storm." Of course, this was because the director didn't like special effects, as they couldn't achieve the sandy and immersive feel he wanted. Therefore, at his request, the crew later found a non-toxic, biodegradable material made from shredded cardboard, which was safe enough to be used as a filler in some processed foods and light enough to achieve the hovering effect required for filming.

These all undoubtedly require a certain amount of time to prepare and the necessary film technology reserves.

To be honest, *Interstellar* wasn't exactly a film bursting with imagination later on, but in 1994, it was already a film that dared to think big. After all, the script emphasized a five-dimensional spacetime, far exceeding the cognitive limits of a three-dimensional existence. After all, trying to understand five dimensions, no matter when, is like an ant trying to understand a sphere—just a projection of a flat circle.

Regardless of anything else, Lin Youcheng's novel "Interstellar" is one that cannot be missed.

"Lin, I know that making this movie is a big investment, and we will seriously consider it."

In George's view, even if they don't film it now, they must get the script. It doesn't matter if they wait for a suitable opportunity to film it later. They can't let Lin Youcheng sell the script to another film and television company.

George was pleasantly surprised that Lin Youcheng had written such a big-budget science fiction script as "Interstellar," but it wasn't entirely unexpected. After all, Lin Youcheng had won the Hugo Award, the highest honor in science fiction literature, and was a true science fiction literary giant. His novel "The Time Traveler's Wife" was a highly influential bestseller worldwide, not to mention that the novel was also made into a movie.

Now that Lin Youcheng has written the story of "Interstellar," it's nothing special. What might surprise George is that this film requires a large investment, which is quite different from the low-budget scripts Lin Youcheng wrote before.

In fact, Lin Youcheng didn't care when Warner Bros. would actually make the movie "Interstellar," because he just needed to sell his script to Warner Bros., and the final product of the movie was not something he could decide.

However, besides the big-budget sci-fi story "Interstellar," Lin Youcheng also has a low-budget sci-fi script.

Lin Youcheng looked at George and said, "The filming of this movie, Interstellar, was indeed a big investment, very complicated, and the investment cost was also very high. I have also written another different story here."

Undoubtedly, when the translator relayed Lin Youcheng's words to George, George's eyes lit up. He was naturally very much looking forward to Lin Youcheng's other low-budget science fiction script.

George was also marveling to himself, thinking, "As expected of a Hugo Award-winning author, he's truly amazing. Besides 'Interstellar,' he also has other science fiction stories."

"Lin, what kind of story is this script?" Seeing how eager George was to see the script, Lin Youcheng smiled and asked in return, "Do you know about Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9?"

George was somewhat surprised, not expecting Lin Youcheng to bring up this news. Although he didn't know much about it, he had heard the story in the United States. He nodded.

"This sci-fi story has a low budget; filming can probably be completed in a week, and all that's left is editing."

George was surprised that Lin Youcheng would say such a thing. His expression was one of astonishment. A movie that could be filmed in just one week?

Lin Youcheng certainly understood why George was so surprised, because compared to Interstellar, this low-budget story was actually filmed in just five days.

Lin Youcheng also specially handed another script to the translator and George, and told George another story, namely the low-budget science fiction film "The Night the Comet Came".

Lin Youcheng was well aware of how special the movie "The Night of the Comet" was. If Warner Bros. could use the news of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hitting Jupiter in 1994 to make this movie, it might be a particularly good form of movie promotion.

In essence, *Coherence* tells the story of a young woman named Emily who drives to a friend's house for a party on a strangely quiet night. She had been on the phone with her boyfriend while driving when the call abruptly ended, and her phone screen inexplicably cracked. This event leaves Emily feeling uneasy, as a comet happens to approach Earth that night. Later, her friends sit down and chat, catching up on each other's lives. Although their conversation contains many inexplicable and strange clues, they are all glossed over. Suddenly, the lights go out. When the light returns, the relationships between the eight friends at the dinner party, and even the world order, have undergone astonishing changes.

The original film was shot in just five days and edited over several months. Due to a lack of funds, the film was shot at the director's own home. The entire film used two cameras, eight actors, and four crew members. Even so, it was a very successful low-budget science fiction film and even won some film awards.

The English title of "The Night of the Comet" literally translates to coherence, which refers to the phenomenon of wave-to-wave interference in physics, or "my actions affect my actions."

Although the film had a low production cost, its ability to grip the audience with suspense is remarkably strong. Once you get past the slightly rambling first ten minutes, any viewer with even a hint of curiosity will be completely captivated. In fact, even the seemingly aimless chatter is closely tied to the theme and all points to the main plot as it unfolds. The biggest twist is even planted before the party begins; the protagonists, like confident detective novelists, throw out all the clues, openly challenging the audience to solve the mystery. They also possess the skills of top-notch magicians, completing the crucial step long before the audience is on the edge of their seats, expecting a miracle. The film's mise-en-scène is meticulous; each shot systematically conveys relevant information, gradually piecing together the truth. In its under 90-minute runtime, not a single shot is superfluous.

The reason Lin Youcheng wrote the script for "The Night the Comet Came" was naturally because the story was quite novel and unique. Although it couldn't compare to the grand production of "Interstellar," the script was undoubtedly quite brilliant, especially the ending which shared humanity's shock and fear of the unknown dimension. The ending unexpectedly elevated the science fiction to a level that touched on humanity.

That's right, it was shock and fear!

After learning the whole story, George finally understood what Lin Youcheng meant by finishing filming in a week, and he was completely shocked by the story.

Surprisingly, after the grand story of Interstellar, Lin Youcheng also wrote such a special story, The Night the Comet Came, a completely different science fiction story.

George knew very well that "Coherence" was soft science fiction, unlike "Interstellar," and it told a story about different parallel universes. In this respect, it was completely different from "Interstellar," which was so novel and unique!

Surprisingly, it presents unimaginable science fiction scenarios from a perspective closer to ordinary life, attempting to realistically describe how people would react when time travel occurs. George even has a vague feeling that everyone in the perfect parallel world at the end of the script is actually composed of people from different parallel worlds. In other words, it is very likely that they have all killed him, the most terrifying kind of hypothetical scenario...

"Lin, this is incredible!"

"This is absolutely incredible!"

George was truly astonished by the imagination of Hugo Award winner Lin Youcheng; it was truly amazing and incredible!
In fact, Lin Youcheng didn't need to say much. It was obvious that George now understood very well why Lin Youcheng had asked him if he knew about Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. If such a low-budget movie story could be made as soon as possible, it would be the best movie publicity, especially since the film's production cost was not high at all.

Now, George is even eager to make this film, "The Night the Comet Came".

This is a completely different idea from Interstellar. That film still needs to be properly prepared and discussed, and it cannot be rushed into filming. As for Comet Night, we can immediately start preparing to find actors and begin filming.

Lin Youcheng could understand why George was so excited, because compared to a big-budget film like Interstellar, The Night of the Comet was undoubtedly much cheaper. Even if its box office revenue was far less than that of other big-budget films, it would still be a sure-fire way to make a huge profit.

Clearly, Lin Youcheng sees these two different science fiction scripts as extremely lucrative opportunities, which is why he approached Warner Bros. If George doesn't accept them, Lin Youcheng can naturally package and sell the two science fiction scripts to other Hollywood film companies.

George naturally had no reason to refuse.

It is safe to say that if the exorbitant royalties for Lin Youcheng's two film scripts were to become public, it would spark a huge discussion in China. The almost science fiction-like figures are truly unimaginable in the Chinese literary world.

For the domestic literary world, Lin Youcheng is truly a big shot, like a science fiction big shot from another dimension.

(End of this chapter)