America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 767 Twenty-Four Personalities

In the morning, in the film studio's soundstage.

A dark-skinned Asian man sat in the rest area, watching the filming with Graham.

The two were filming on set and did not speak.

Martin stood in front of the iron table, skillfully disassembling the gun, oiling and maintaining it, then taking out the magazine and pressing the bright orange bullets into it.

After loading three magazines, Martin picked one up, mounted it on the wall, and made a firing motion.

Director Villeneuve shouted, "Stop! That's a good take!"

Martin braced his hands on the cold iron table, took a few deep breaths, and smelled the familiar gun oil, immediately snapping out of character.

Villeneuve came out from behind the director's monitor and handed Martin a bag: "Your souvenir."

Martin took it and looked at it; it turned out to be the skull mask he wore when filming the bank robbery scene.

With all of the male lead's scenes finished, Martin announced loudly, "I've booked the entire hotel buffet restaurant for this afternoon's wrap party. Anyone who has time can come over."

Villeneuve said, "The directing team will definitely be there."

The male lead's scenes were finished, but filming would continue until Friday. Martin took off his costume jacket, took the wet wipes Old Brooks handed him, wiped the gun oil off his hands, and left the set.

The film crew is moving to another location, so the studio is quite busy.

Graham saw Martin come out and called out, "Martin, over here."

As Martin walked in that direction, he sized up the dark-skinned Asian man. Judging from his skin color, he wasn't East Asian; instead, he had an Indian air about him.

Just as he wouldn't mistake a Korean for a Japanese person, Martin also has a particularly strong ability to distinguish Indians.

Having a past life can be considered a basic ability for many people.

When Martin approached, Graham introduced the two: "This is Martin, and this is Night Shyamalan."

The latter stepped forward to shake hands with Martin: "I've seen you at award ceremonies several times, but unfortunately I haven't had the chance to get to know you. You are one of my favorite actors."

The other party was very polite, and Martin spoke very courteously: "Director Shyamalan, I really like your work. The Sixth Sense is one of my favorite horror films."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the three of them sat down in the rest area and started chatting.

Night Shyamalan adopted a very humble stance because he had a bad feeling that the film "After Earth," which had just finished filming in the Great Lakes region, had some major problems.

Of course, he didn't think the problem lay with him.

Rather, Will Smith was too eager. In order to make his son famous, he interfered in everything from the script to the filming and post-production.

Night Shyamalan has worked with one company after another over the years. If "After Earth" is a flop, he certainly won't be able to work with Will Smith and Sony Columbia anymore.

He needs to find new production companies and investors.

Thinking of this, Knight Shyamalan couldn't help but glance at Martin, only to find Martin giving him a friendly smile.

With his old friend Graham present, he quickly said, "I just finished filming 'After Earth' with Will Smith and his son, and I have a new project in mind. Martin, would you be interested in collaborating with me?"

Martin laughed and said, "I just finished filming a movie, and I haven't even left the studio yet. I need to catch my breath."

The director of "The Sixth Sense" had just collaborated with Will Smith and his son on "After Earth," and Martin immediately associated himself with certain things that left a deep impression on him.

This director is notoriously inconsistent in his work.

Moreover, unlike Ridley Scott's inconsistency, Scott is generally reliable in his films as long as he doesn't work on epic films.

Night Shyamalan occasionally produces a gem, but most of the time he's unreliable.

In Martin's previous life, there were news reports that M. Night Shyamalan was an extremely rare director who could rip off almost every major and medium-sized production company in Hollywood.

Knight-Shyamalan then went to the restroom.

Graham watched the man walk away and said softly, "If you can avoid cooperating with him, then don't."

GK Pictures' collaborations with David Studios are far deeper than those with Knight Shyamalan, whether in terms of financial interests or personal relationships.

Martin added, "His recent films haven't been very well received?"

"Not the recent ones," Graham said bluntly, "but after the huge success of 'The Sixth Sense,' none of his other films have been well-received, and all of them have failed at the box office. However, a few DVDs have sold reasonably well, which has kept him afloat."

Martin asked, "I've heard he's worked with almost every medium-sized and large production company."

Graham said, "It's rare in Hollywood to make a movie and then change partners."

He turned his head and glanced at it, then said, "He came to me this time because he wanted to get GK Pictures to invest."

Martin nodded. "Understood."

Graham smiled and said, "I have a pretty good personal relationship with him, but friendship is friendship and business is business. I can't afford to lose tens of millions of dollars in investment."

Martin asked in surprise, "How can someone with his background keep attracting investment and collaborating with large companies?"

Even with Ridley Scott's incredible stamina, he doesn't dare to make one epic film after another; he also has to intersperse his work with sci-fi films to recharge.

Night Shyamalan, however, ruined all six major Hollywood studios.

Compared to Martin, Graham, an old friend, knew M. Night Shyamalan far better. After a moment's thought, he said, "The Sixth Sense was such a success back then. A production cost of $4000 million yielded nearly $3 million in North America and nearly $7 million worldwide. It ranked second on both the box office and video sales charts that year, making Disney a fortune. Who wouldn't like it?"

He then changed the subject: "Furthermore, Shyamalan is a genius among geniuses. He always comes up with brilliant ideas when writing scripts, which impresses the production companies. Medium and large production companies often invest in a mixed bag of projects. With the commercial miracle of 'The Sixth Sense' as a precedent, if a project succeeds, the profits are huge. If it fails, most of the losses are to the other investors."

Martin thought of Warner Bros., which had botched so many big productions over the past year. Although the company's finances were tight, it was far from a crisis.

In contrast, Megan Ellison, who invests her own money in movies, is already struggling to stay afloat.

Graham added, "From a producer's perspective, Shyamalan has one major problem: he can come up with unparalleled ideas and create amazing scenes at the story level, but he always cuts corners when it comes to execution, resulting in what should have been a stunning story ending abruptly."

Martin was slightly taken aback by these words, because he remembered a movie he had seen before. The beginning was amazing, but the ending was disappointing. However, a sequel was made, and the new Professor X, James McAvoy, once again shaved his head in the movie.

The film's director seems to be Night Shyamalan.

These dates are relatively recent from when Martin came to North America, so I remember them quite clearly.

For example, the female lead in the film, he recalled, later made a series about chess for Netflix.

This film is very interesting. It seems to have been promoted and hyped up, and is based on true events or something.

Just as Martin was considering it, Knight Shyamalan returned from the bathroom and brought up the collaboration again.

Graham said, "I'm still working on this project and can't get away for now. Here's what you do: whatever projects you have on hand, send me a copy of the script and proposal later."

"No problem." Knight Shyamalan didn't want to give up on Martin, feeling that cooperating with him might turn his fortunes around. He said, "I have a project I'm planning, and the male lead would be perfect for you?"

Martin tentatively asked, "What kind of character? Not like Bruce Willis in *The Sixth Sense*, someone with mental issues, right?"

Night Shyamalan said, "It's not that kind of role. I did something like that in 2000, but it was a huge failure, and I don't want to do it again for now. This project is a science fiction film, but I can't say for sure right now."

Martin replied casually, "Send the script to Davis Studio whenever you think it's appropriate, and I'll make a decision after I've read the script and reviewed the character."

This was a perfectly reasonable request, and Knight-Shyamalan replied, "I'll have it sent over as soon as possible."

The three chatted for a while, and the crew moved to another location and was about to start filming. Martin was the first to leave the studio.

Not long after, Knight Shyamalan also took his leave.

On the way to the hotel, the director was quite satisfied with the trip. If everything went smoothly with GK Pictures and Davis Film Studio, he would have two more opportunities to try.

Night Shyamalan believes he can still make a blockbuster movie, just like "The Sixth Sense" back in the day.

As for what to do if the project fails? Knight-Shyamalan didn't think too much about it, since it was other people's money that was being lost.

…………

Back in the makeup trailer, Martin removed his makeup, changed back into his own clothes, got into the Cadillac that Bruce had driven, and returned to the Hilton Garden Inn.

With dinner time still early, he returned to his room and carefully recalled the news reports he had read.

I watched that movie starring James McAvoy in my past life. It seems the male lead had more than 20 personalities, some of which were very dangerous and kidnapped several girls.

This film claims to be based on a true story.

Martin asked Bruce, "Have you heard of any heinous crimes where the perpetrator was a schizophrenic with multiple personalities?"

Bruce thought for a moment and said, "I think there have been a few similar cases in the past few years."

Martin then asked, "What about more than 20 personalities?"

"Over 20?" Bruce shook his head. "I've never heard of that. That's ridiculously exaggerated."

Martin took out his phone and called Thomas and Jessica respectively, explaining the similar problem and asking them to look for relevant events or news.

After waiting for more than half an hour, Thomas called back and said, "I looked into it carefully. There was a similar case, and it was quite typical. A man named Billy Milligan was arrested in 1977 for committing three rapes at Ohio State University. During the interrogation, Billy was diagnosed with a rare form of multiple personality disorder, and he was acquitted."

He paused slightly: "A non-fiction biography published in 1981 was based on this story and is called 'The Minds of Billy Milligan'."

(End of this chapter)