Huayu: Director started with art films

Li Yishu vaguely remembered that the reason why "Rush Hour 3" was delayed for six years was probably because the black actor wanted to increase his salary.

Therefore, now is the time to finalize the filming of the trilogy, and the increase in pay can be controlled within a reasonable range.

As for changing someone else to play the role, will there be no mention of a pay increase?
This is simply impossible.

No matter what kind of movie it is, no matter whether it is domestic or foreign, once the movie becomes popular and sells well at the box office, the actors will demand pay for sequels.

Just like Robert Downey Jr., who later became famous as Iron Man, it is said that his salary when filming "Avengers 4" was as high as 1 million US dollars, which does not include a certain percentage of the box office share.

When he was filming "Iron Man 1", he was just a drug addict and an out-of-date actor forgotten by Hollywood.

It was Marvel that gave him the opportunity, but when it came time to ask for his own pay, he still asked for it.

This is human nature.

Because in the acting industry, it is often a today but not a tomorrow, and no one knows if they can make as much money by filming another movie tomorrow.

Since a movie is a big hit, they will naturally try their best to raise money when making a sequel.

So when he heard about the early signing of the trilogy contract, Pierce remained silent, tacitly approving the actors chosen by Lee Yi-su.

Because of this movie "Rush Hour", there is a 70% to 80% chance that it will make money.

This can be seen from Li Yishu's past achievements, including Cheng Long's fame in North America with "Rumble in the Bronx", becoming the most well-known Asian action actor at present.

The combined investment cost of these two people is only 30 million US dollars, so it is very easy for them to make money.

After the role of one of the male protagonists was finalized, the subsequent interview environment became much simpler.

After spending a whole morning interviewing all the candidates, the list of roles was finalized while everyone was having lunch at a nearby restaurant.

The role of the black police officer James Carter was given to Chris Tucker.

The little girl in the movie was handed over to a little Chinese girl.

The role of a black boss was given to Alfonso Freeman, because he has a good father.

The remaining characters are all insignificant and can be chosen at random.

Finished lunch.

Assistant director Brett Ratner and the casting director hurried away with the list, ready to notify these people and sign the contract as soon as possible.

Pierce also returned to New Line Cinema to report the completion of the casting.

After they all left, only Li Yishu, Monica and Cheng Long were left in the restaurant.

Cheng Long clasped his hands together and said, "By the way, Director Li, I forgot to congratulate you!"

Li Yishu was puzzled: "Congratulations to me?"

Cheng Long smiled and said, "Yes, congratulations to Director Li for having his film Chicago nominated for an Oscar and for winning five awards!"

His "Chicago" was registered as early as the end of last year.

In February this year, Arthur Miller, chairman of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, announced the shortlist.

"Chicago" was nominated for five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design.

It can be regarded as a hot movie in this year's Oscars.

Moreover, this type of nostalgic musical film is the most popular among the old white men at the Academy Awards, so many newspapers in North America predicted that Lee Yi-su would win one or two major awards.

After all, "Chicago" won the Best Picture at the Golden Globe Awards.

It was just that Li Yishu was still filming "Red Cliff" in mainland China at that time, so it was Harvey who won the award.

It caused a small-scale discussion in China at the time, but nowadays, let alone the Golden Globe Awards, even the Oscars are considered fake awards in the eyes of the public.

What really made the Oscars, or the American film awards, the focus of China was the release of "Titanic" in mainland China, which gradually formed an "Oscar complex" in the minds of mainland filmmakers.

Of course, a commercial blockbuster is not enough for filmmakers to have an Oscar complex.

The main reason is the marketing of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" at the time, plus some public intellectuals hyping up the Oscars as one of the top film awards in the world.

Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige also attempted to win Oscars twice.

At that time, Hollywood movies hit the world, including the mainland market which was transitioning from art films to commercial films, and began to gradually pursue Hollywood commercial blockbusters.

This is how the Academy Awards became the fourth largest film award in the world.

But in the eyes of mainland audiences and filmmakers in 1996, the Golden Globe Award is just a small award, and the Oscar is also a small award.

Li Yishu has won all the gold medals at the four major European film festivals, not to mention a smaller award for Best Film and several nominations for another smaller award.

This also means that in the eyes of mainland filmmakers and movie fans, it is not surprising that Li Yishu won these awards.

So when she heard about the Oscars, Lee Yi-su smiled and said, "Being nominated doesn't necessarily mean you can win the award."

"Director Li is too modest."

Cheng Long said, "I read in the newspapers that you are expected to win one or two awards this time. Director Li also won the Best Picture at the Golden Globe Awards. American newspapers say that winning a Golden Globe is equivalent to winning an Oscar."

"It's different after all, but thank you Aaron for your good words. It's good to get it."

Li Yishu replied with a smile, but did not explain too much to Cheng Long now.

The main reason is that the other party has just arrived in the United States and doesn’t know much about awards such as the Golden Globe Awards and the Oscars.

The group chatted for a while in the restaurant.

It was already half past one in the afternoon.

Monica said, "Lee, you and Amy have a meeting at two o'clock."

Hearing this, Li Yishu looked at Cheng Long and asked, "Ah Long, are you going back to the crew, or are you going to the company with me?"

Cheng Long thought about it and said, "Then I'd better go to the company with Director Li. I just happen to have something to talk to Director Li about."

"Let's go then."

Li Yishu didn't care and took Monica Bellucci and Jackie Chan back to the Art Film Company.

Ten minutes later, the group arrived at the company.

Li Yishu arranged for someone to take Cheng Long to the lounge to rest first, while he himself went to the conference room with Monica for a meeting.

The focus of this meeting, in addition to "Rush Hour", is the issue of who will be the head of the future art film company.

Amy has decided to return to Hong Kong to take charge of the group's overall affairs.

Naturally, North America needs to elect a new person in charge.

Amy had suggested Ron Edwin before.

Li Yishu also has high hopes for him, but she still wants to bring it up at the meeting.

The meeting lasted half an hour.

The future development direction of North American art film companies was discussed.

At the same time, Amy took the initiative to propose a replacement for the general manager.
And suggested that Ron Edwin take the post,

Li Yishu looked at everyone and asked, "What do you think? Do you think Edwin is suitable?"

No one answered.

Obviously everyone knew that the candidate for general manager had already been decided. Li Yishu said, "Since no one has any objection, then I'll leave it to you, Edwin."

Edwin stood up excitedly and said, "Thank you, Chairman."

"Amy recommended you."

Li Yishu pointed at Amy and said with a smile, "Don't let her down. Work hard!"

"Thank you, President." Edwin thanked Amy first, and then said to Li Yishu, "Chairman, rest assured. I will work harder and will not let the chairman and president down."

"Ah."

Li Yishu nodded and said, "Let's end today's meeting here. Amy and Edwin, you stay here, and everyone else can go about their business."

There was a crash.

People began to leave one after another.

Only Amy and Edwin were left.

Li Yishu asked directly: "Edwin, how many years have you been in the company?"

"It's been three years, Chairman." Edwin said quickly.

Li Yishu asked, "Well, it's been three years. Do you know why our company has rarely participated in film production in the past three years?"

Edwin had some guesses, but he wasn't sure, so he just shook his head.

"Because Amy and I are outsiders."

Li Yishu said bluntly: "I can be a director myself, and then cooperate with other film companies to get a share of the profits, but my company cannot participate in some good projects in Hollywood..."

After hearing this, Amy frowned. She had actually had this guess, but she didn't expect the situation to be more complicated than she thought.

"But you don't have to worry about it now."

Li Yishu smiled and said, "Our parent company has now won over Sony as a shareholder."

"Chairman, are we going to have in-depth cooperation with Sony?" Edwin's eyes lit up. He has been in the film industry for many years and naturally knows the difference between non-Big Eight and Big Eight.

Although art film companies have always relied on Columbia Pictures' channels for distribution, the two parties only had a normal cooperative relationship.

One provides production, the other provides channels.

But if we want to engage in in-depth cooperation now, it means that the company will have major changes in the future.

"Yes, Sony Columbia will have long-term and in-depth cooperation with us in the future."

Li Yishu nodded and said, "In the future, we will co-produce with Columbia. We will provide the project and funds, and Columbia will provide the funds and distribution channels."

The current situation of art film companies is somewhat similar to Summit Entertainment.

Almost a considerable number of Hollywood movie lovers know this film company, which has produced many popular movies, such as "Twilight", "The Hurt Locker", "Now You See Me", etc.

But in the end, it couldn't escape the fate of being acquired.

In the final analysis, there are too few good projects and there is no distribution right, which has led to being strangled by the eight major film companies.

This also included Lionsgate later on.

It's the same principle. Whenever a film company has the strength to approach the Big Eight, it will be strangled by the Big Eight. This not only applies to film companies invested by foreigners, but also to Americans' own film companies.

The most representative one may be Spielberg's DreamWorks.

In 1994, the three founders of DreamWorks had the ambition to make it a new highlight of Hollywood, but in December 2005, the three founders decided to sell it to Viacom.

In this way, DreamWorks will be under the control of Viacom Films, the parent company of Paramount Pictures.

The reason for the sale is very simple, that is, DreamWorks shows signs of becoming the ninth largest film company in Hollywood.

All these examples remind Li Yishu that Hollywood is not a place for him. He can be a director and make movies here, and he can also run projects, but he cannot think about expanding the film company.

Because reality is reality, not fiction.

Tik Tok, the future leader in short videos, was forced to shut down its North American servers. Li Yishu does not think that she can create the ninth largest film company in Hollywood.

So in this way, things become simpler.

Make money in Hollywood, then invest in Asia, focusing on the markets in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and expand the business and influence of the Art Media Group.

Wait a few more years until the Internet era arrives.

Li Yishu will plunge into the wave of the Internet.

Even if he doesn't understand technology or the Internet, as long as he knows that investing in those companies can make money in the future, that's enough.

Not to mention that Li Yishu was a director of online movies in his previous life. The future Internet's big entertainment strategy will be quite successful.

Almost any film and television company must have in-depth cooperation with several major Internet companies.

With such future information, Li Yishu naturally no longer cares about the film companies in North America.

So when Sony sent representatives to Hong Kong before, Li Yishu had in-depth communication with the relevant representatives and finalized a deeper cooperative relationship between the two parties.

After a short meeting of more than ten minutes, Li Yishu went to the lounge to find Cheng Long.

Here, when Amy was about to go back to her office, a secretary came up to her and took out a file and said, "General Manager, the candidate for the chairman's assistant has been selected."

Amy took the file, flipped through it casually, and then handed it to the other party: "The chairman is in the lounge, you take it to him for review, and let the chairman choose his own assistant."

This time, Lee Yi-su will be filming "Rush Hour" in the United States, and it is conservatively estimated that it will take at least two months.

During this period, it is natural to have an assistant to help with some daily chores.

"Good general manager."

The female secretary nodded and came to the door of the lounge with the file.

After knocking on the door, she opened it and said, "Chairman, the list of assistants has been selected."

"Bring it here."

Li Yishu waved.

The secretary walked over with the list.

After taking the list, Li Yishu opened the file and started reading.

When choosing a personal assistant, one naturally has to have good liking for the person. Li Yishu flipped through a few pages and found that most of them were good-looking and had impressive resumes.

When she saw the photo of one of them, Li Yishu raised her eyebrows and glanced at the name: Cate Blanchett!

It really is her, the future Elf Queen Galadriel.

Why is she here to interview for an assistant?

Li Yishu looked at her resume, which showed some of the film and television works she had starred in, but most of them were produced in Australia.

It seems that just like when Monica first came to Hollywood, she couldn't find an acting job and had to work in other industries to support herself.

Moreover, the position recruited this time is the director's personal assistant. Any normal young actor would think this is an opportunity.

"Just her."

Li Yishu pointed at Cate Blanchett's name. (End of this chapter)