841 Big Brand Prestige
"I hope I haven't disturbed you to rest." Lang's voice came from the phone, rough and generous, and with an unconcealed smile. He originally wanted to find Theo, but he didn't expect to talk to Lance directly. "I heard that last night was very wild and many things were out of control." The joke in his words made the call look more like a greeting between friends.
"You should be involved in it yourself." Lance left the dining table and walked towards the hall, and the voice of Ian and Theo's exchange of opinions gradually became weaker.
"Haha, after getting older, I became immunized to such occasions. However, after reading the newspaper this morning, I felt quite regretful. It seems that I missed a lot of excitement." As a leader of Universal Pictures, Lang pointed the gun at the Oscars in a few words. It would be understandable as long as he participated in last night's Oscar Night, whether he had read today's newspapers or not.
"Don't worry, in my opinion, this party will last for a while, and you are welcome to join at any time." The "party" mentioned by Lance here is obviously meaningful.
Lang immediately understood and continued to play the puzzle, "Many times, watching is far more interesting than participating in it in person."
"Ha, I thought everyone wanted to attend, the whole Hollywood was." Lance chuckled, "As far as I know, many people want you to attend, your absence has made the party lose its luster."
In this Hollywood turmoil, Universal Pictures is impossible to stay out of the matter. Whether it is the defeat of Brokeback Mountain in the awards season finale, or the upcoming summer season, Sony Pictures and Disney's aggressiveness, Universal Pictures are all direct participants. It is impossible for Long to stand by and watch.
"It's rare that someone remembers me, I'm going to be flattered." Lang Feng stopped his words, took away all the deep meaning in his words, and returned to the usual conversation mode, as if they were just discussing a party from beginning to end.
Since Lang was only planning to discuss the party, there was no need for Lance to continue to greet him. "Maybe I should have had a good rest, and I had too much fun last night. I started to have a headache when I woke up this morning. I was not sure if it was whiskey or tequila." Lance said politely, as if he was planning to hang up the phone.
Lang also heard Lance's intentions and no longer kept being reserved. Today, he was the one who took the initiative to contact Lance, so there was no need to hide it. "Don't worry, the young man has a good rest and will recover soon. The 'Rampage Road' has just been completed, and you are ready to work in the next work. This enthusiasm cannot be compared to other people in Hollywood."
"Next work?" Lance chuckled, "Where is the next work? The post-production of "Rampage Road" is still waiting for me to be busy. Moreover, after the work has come to a short time, I am going to take a break, and the next work is not that fast." It seems that the "Iron Man" incident did not happen at all last night.
"Is that so? Ike Pamut is going to be disappointed. He thought he had found a perfect director candidate. To be honest, in Hollywood now, I don't think there is anyone else who can meet Ike's standards besides you." Lang quietly gave Lance a high hat, but his words were full of temptation. It is worth mentioning that Lang was not Kevin Feige, but Ike Pamut, who was higher-level. It can be seen that Hollywood senior figures have more or less left eyeliner around Lance. Perhaps before Kevin and Lance contacted last night, industry insiders had already smelled the wind.
"Ha, Nolan won't want to hear such comments." Lance calmly bypassed the topic, not admitting or denying it - he didn't need to report his work plan to Universal Pictures.
"Humility is not like your style." Lang didn't mind and joked, "Since you have no work plan recently, that's great. I called you today, and there is a work that I hope you can take over." Lang went smoothly and finally mentioned the core content of today's phone call.
"Oh? What project?" Lance raised his eyebrows and sat on the sofa relaxedly. "I have been away from Hollywood for a long time. After I came back last night, I haven't had time to communicate with the company. I missed a lot of important news, so I almost know nothing now. What special big moves have Universal recently?"
"Who can compare with Warner Bros. when it comes to big moves?" Lang laughed at himself, "The big project is not a big one, but it is indeed a very special one. I wonder what you think of the 'Spy Shadow' series?"
"Sharp editing, neat fighting, accurate rhythm." Lance did not shirk his mind, simply said his thoughts in a straightforward way. "As an action-type movie, it can be said that it has opened up a new style."
"'Killing someone with a knife' is also a new style, and 'City of Sin' is another new style. However, strictly speaking, these two works are both crime-type, and the fighting scenes are very limited. Have you ever considered trying to shoot an action-type work with different styles?" Lang did not throw out the project directly in one breath, but instead took action step by step. Obviously, before deciding to communicate with Lance, he had made a lot of preparations.
Considering the previous cooperation process between Lance and major film companies, Lang can be said to be prepared.
"Action type?" Lance thought seriously, "This is an interesting proposal." Among all Lance's current works, none of them are action movies with strict meaning. Even "Iron Man" is actually a different from action movies. But it is undeniable that in the hearts of every Chinese, there is a dream of martial arts, and there is an inseparable feeling for action movies, and Lance is naturally no exception.
Lang chuckled, "I think so too. We are now preparing a project adapted from a comic - this should be familiar to you." A pun, which refers to both "Sin City" and "Iron Man", and "Superman Return" who was unable to make a comeback after the tug-of-war, "mark-millar, we will adapt the comics he created."
Mark Miller...Lance's head was a little slow, and he didn't even remember it for a while. He frowned and recalled it seriously, and hesitatedly said, "'Haibian King'?"
"Yes, that's his work. However, what I want to adapt this time is another one, the 'wanted order'." Lang gave the answer.
Lance's memory has finally awakened. In fact, compared to "Haibian King" and "Wanted Warrant", the most widely responded after Mark's comic adaptation movie was "Ace Agents: Agent Academy". This work has achieved incredible results in box office and reputation, and has truly made the original comic author Mark famous all over the world.
"I don't know if you have read the original comic of "Wanted Warrant", but it's certain that this is not an easy work to adapt. We need a helmman who can break the conventional restrictions and has the talent to complete breakthroughs. In the whole of Hollywood, I can't think of any other better choices except you." Lang's words seemed plain and sincere, but they brought the affirmation of praise to the extreme.
"Wanted Warrant", Lance still has some impression of this work, because some of the visual effects in the movie are indeed quite exciting, and the bullet track shots that slow down and turn around can be said to have amazed every audience. But in addition, the work is not good, and the story is so thin that it is almost stupid, which leads to the beginning and end of the audience. The characters are shallow and empty, and they are completely relying on being handsome and supporting, and the separation from the plot makes the characters have no personality at all. In addition, the visual effects do not spend a lot of effort to shoot, and the whole work seems a bit unacceptable.
However, the box office performance of the "wanted warrant" is very good, with 130 million North America and 340 million worldwide. With a small profit of just 75 million yuan, it is worthy of recognition.
Lang's thought just now made Lance interested. If he used "spy shadows" as an inspiration to recreate the "wanted order" and inject a new style into this movie, what kind of work will it eventually be presented? If Lance tells the story and talks about the characters, how will he combine it with martial arts scenes and special effects scenes to distinguish it from traditional martial arts movies and innovate?
"I haven't read the original comics, so I don't know the story very well, but I know Mark Miller, his comic works are very interesting." Mark's comics are more from the perspective of the common people, the kind of ordinary people who have left the slums and worked hard to achieve justice. It's really exciting, "Do you have a script now?"
Lance revealed a little interest in his words, which inspired Lang. "For the time being, there is only the story outline. Although we created the first draft of the script, the effect is not ideal because the original comics are a bit complicated. If you are interested, I can send the script to you and you can give some suggestions."
Lance did not agree immediately, but thought about it seriously. Putting aside the "wanted order" work, it is very important to truly break the blockade of Warner Bros., Sony Pictures and Disney through Universal's olive branch. So Lance decided to agree, at least get the script first, and then think about what happened later.
Lang waited for a while, but did not wait for Lance's response. Knowing that Lance might be hesitating, he added, "The entire project has not started yet, only Angelina Jolie has shown enough interest. She hopes to inject special colors into the film and present a wonderful work. In addition, this is a piece of white paper, waiting for an excellent artist to create."
Chapter completed!