I'm building Gundams in America

Chapter 440 Saints Save America (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Saints Save America?

Josh was taken aback.

What is this story?

Is this passage in the Bible?

At this point, William, the screenwriter, frowned and said:

"Mr. Wayne, although you are the lead actor, you should focus more on your performance than on the plot."

"Saints save America? What does that have to do with our 'Death of Jesus'? These aren't even related projects!"

"When Jesus, as the Messiah, spread the gospel with his twelve disciples, America didn't even exist. Tell me, how can saints save America?"

Screenwriter William looked annoyed.

He was utterly fed up with these American celebrities; many of them were ignorant and incompetent. He guessed that this Bruce Wayne guy probably thought American history was as long as Christianity.

Wayne shook his head and said:

"What we want to film is modern America, the story of a saint who comes out of the homeless, sees the chaotic and crazy apocalyptic scene of America, and saves the whole country step by step."

"He will shatter everyone's shackles and embrace a new life."

For Wayne, whether the movie makes money or not has never been important.

The important thing is to help him shape and promote his personal image.

The image of a saint who saved America.

As for how many people believe you?

Of course, the more the better.

At the right time and in the right place, a good movie can create a great person, or even elevate an actor to a god-like status.

A recent example is Ukrainian President Zelensky.

Zelensky's greatest political asset in his rise to power was the television series he starred in, titled "Servant of the People."

In the drama, Zelensky plays Vasya, a poor history teacher who denounces corruption among the powerful in class. A student secretly films the video of Vasya and uploads it online, making Vasya a viral sensation.

Subsequently, the public spontaneously campaigned for him, and students raised funds for him. He was eventually elected President of Ukraine with a high number of votes and launched sweeping anti-corruption reforms.

Because the TV series was so popular in Ukraine, ordinary Ukrainians generally assumed that Zelenskyy himself was the righteous figure in the show, which brought him enormous political capital and ultimately led to his becoming the real-life president of Ukraine.

What Wayne wanted to do was simple: to make a movie about a modern American saint, one that would reflect his real-life self.

He wanted everyone who saw the movie to become his followers!

Given the average intelligence level of Americans, coupled with their fervent religious atmosphere, whenever a movie is made, there will always be people who take the content of the movie as if it were real.

To put it bluntly, the goal is to make the movie into a huge promotional film for Wayne himself.

Let the belief that saints will save America take root in people's hearts.

Hearing Wayne's words, director Josh gave a wry smile, carefully considered his words, and then said:

"Mr. Wayne, you may have been out of the film industry for too long and don't quite understand... The process of getting a film project approved, raised funds, and started filming is extremely complicated, even difficult..."

"The most crucial step in getting a film project approved is determining the subject matter. A good script is essentially the foundation of the film, and all projects stem from it... We can revise the script, but your requirements..."

As he spoke, the director pointed to the screenwriter William standing beside him and continued:

"Mr. William is a well-known and established screenwriter in Hollywood, with several commercial films already released, the highest-grossing of which reached $200 million. His script for The Death of Jesus is quite mature and was priced at $600,000."

"What you've said completely contradicts the existing script and makes it impossible to move forward..."

Seeing that director Josh was still patiently explaining, editor William frowned, slammed the script on the table, and said:

"Director Josh, I don't think it's necessary to discuss this in such detail with Mr. Wayne anymore. Since he doesn't trust my script so much, I don't think I need to participate in today's script reading..."

"Two million," Wayne said casually.

Everyone looked over, and screenwriter William was completely astonished.

Wayne said slowly:

"Mr. William, rewrite the script for 'Saints Save America' for me, and I'll pay you $200 million."

William's pupils dilated instantly, his face filled with shock and disbelief as he stared at Wayne. He then quickly changed his demeanor, a gentle smile spreading across his face, and said:

"Okay, boss, I apologize for being a bit loud just now. I also think your opinion on this movie is absolutely correct. With Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ as a benchmark, no matter how we make our own, it will be compared to it, making it difficult to become a hit."

"Besides, the current film market simply isn't interested in serious religious themes anymore... Saints saving America? That's fantastic!"

"I've got an idea. I'll write it down now, and I can give you a rough outline tonight."

As they were talking, screenwriter William had already sat back down, picked up a pen, and started writing furiously on the back of his script.

Seeing that Wayne had so easily and decisively won over screenwriter William, director Josh opened his mouth, then sighed again and said:

"Mr. Wayne, even if you were willing to spend money to buy a script, that would be a separate project, unrelated to our film. You're just the male lead; the female lead, Ms. Amy, wouldn't agree to this..."

Amy, standing to the side, now had a solemn expression and spoke in a clear, righteous voice:

"I think Mr. Wayne is absolutely right. For the sake of the whole project, we really should change the script to 'Saints Save America'! Oh, just hearing the name makes one eager to read it."

Director Josh stared at Amy in astonishment, completely dumbfounded.

Weren't you two arguing fiercely just now?

How come our relationship has suddenly become so harmonious again?

This kind of outrageous thing—changing the script during a script reading—is something Josh has never encountered before in all his years as a director.

He had the illusion that he was dreaming.

Turning to look at the assistant director and others, Josh looked at Wayne again and said:

"Mr. Wayne, I think you understand that the person who truly controls the entire project is the investor, who is also our producer... The situation here has completely exceeded my expectations, and I must call the producer, Mr. Victor, to explain things clearly."

As he spoke, he dialed the phone number of producer Victor in front of everyone.

The producer should have been present at today's script reading, but I don't know why Victor didn't come.

The call was quickly connected, and Josh immediately gave a brief account of what had happened that day, mainly about Wayne's sudden decision to change the script.

In Josh's view, the farce should end when it comes to the producers.

On set, whoever pays the money and has box office appeal is the boss.

Bruce Wayne is clearly not a star with box office appeal.

Then everything depends on the producer.

Josh just wants to finish filming the movie as soon as possible, get his payment, and leave immediately.

To his surprise, after he explained the situation to producer Victor, the latter only asked one question:

"Are you sure this is Mr. Wayne's intention?"

Josh glanced at Wayne, who had a gentle expression, and quickly said:

"Yes, Mr. Victor, Mr. Wayne suddenly brought it up..."

"Do as Mr. Wayne says." The producer's voice was resolute and brooked no argument. "From this moment forward, Mr. Wayne represents the production company entirely!"