"Hey, it was just a waste of two days. The actual interview time was only a few minutes. In the end, Her Majesty the Queen's security chief asked her for questioning for a long time."
On ABC TV's international entertainment news, Aunt Karen was so excited to see two fat men, Ronald, Minahan and Jeremy Thomas, being received by Her Majesty the Queen of Britain. After calculating the time difference, The call was placed to Ronald's hotel room in London.
Ronald, who was eating a large portion of fish and chips, started chatting with his aunt. This delicacy invented in the slums of London's East End is, to put it bluntly, fish wrapped in batter and fried, then dipped in various sauces and served with chips.
Common people's delicacies all have this characteristic. They are high in calories, high in carbohydrates, deep-fried, and have a strong taste. It makes Ronald eat very enthusiastically. It reminds him of the breakfast pancakes with fried dough sticks that he had eaten in Xujiahui. It's the same way. number.
"Then the queen didn't talk to you about her life experience? Her royal friend is your grandmother, is she a best friend? So after calculation, are you a relative of his grandchildren? Will she give you a title or something? ?”
"No. We are actually very distantly related. The Spencer family separated from the royal family eight generations ago. Even if we are related, we are called eighth cousin third removed. Basically It just doesn't matter.
However, the two princesses and I can be regarded as third cousins within three generations. Well, but...but Mr. Wang doesn’t seem to like me very much, so I promised Buckingham Palace not to make this relationship public. "
Ronald took a bite of the still hot fried fish and said, "Don't talk about it. I brought two cashmere scarves for you and Donna. I heard that Earl Spencer started his career in wool weaving. There are still people in the family who are engaged in the old trade, so they specially gave me a few."
"Well, look out for yourself in Britain, I heard the people there are bad."
After telling his aunt about his messy distant relationship with the royal family, Ronald hung up the phone. This kind of ancestry can be traced back to seven or eight generations. In fact, most British people can be connected with a certain noble in history. Before living conditions improved significantly in modern times, many poor people would not be able to leave any descendants.
"Ding dong..."
"coming"
Ronald finished the remaining fried fish in three bites, wiped his hands, stood up and opened the door.
"Ronald, hey hey. It's me."
A fat man with a thick neck who looked like a manual worker from the East End of London was laughing at the door.
"Jeremy, please come in."
It turned out to be independent filmmaker Jeremy Thomas. Ronald was happy to have someone come to visit, but he was also a little surprised, why was he here?
"I'm glad to see a British man visiting me. I really want you to come and chat with me. The rest of my crew have gone back first." Ronald took out a bottle of whiskey from the wine cabinet and gave it to Jerry Pour the rice on.
"I went to see your 'Top Gun' last night. It is indeed a commercial film with superb skills. There are many things I don't understand, so I took the liberty to come to see you. As a producer who has been making films outside Hollywood for a long time , a little unfamiliar with the new trends in Hollywood.
Why does your movie seem to be edited at a faster pace than others? "
"You may not watch MTV very often, but the new generation of young people all like to watch music videos, where a complete story must be shown within three minutes, so the pace must be fast and a large amount of space must be left for the story... "
Ronald never refuses communication between colleagues. You never know who you will hear one or two brilliant ideas from, which will be used in subsequent movies.
Besides, he also wanted to know more about the filming of "The Last Emperor" in the Forbidden City. He himself also wanted to make a movie with the theme of his motherland.
"The Last Emperor is based on the autobiography written by the child emperor who ascended to power at the age of three when he was old. They were very cooperative and even hired his younger brother and the people who were managing him in prison at the time to serve as consultants for the film.
After Director Bertolucci finished writing the script, he repeatedly confirmed with them every detail, every costume and set in the script, striving to restore the last emperor of that ancient and mysterious empire. "
"I've never filmed a period drama like this before. From what you can tell, it's very difficult."
"Yes, the investment in period dramas is very large. In addition to the Forbidden City being kindly opened to filming, the casting was also very difficult. I finally persuaded Peter O'Toole to play the role of the emperor Johnston, and the male and female protagonists were Chinese actors.
Bertolucci discovered that although East Asians all look similar, there are subtle but obvious differences in temperament among Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The audience can tell at a glance whether it is authentic or not. "
"Of course," Ronald thought to himself. Even the producer who had raised $25 million didn't know much about culture. Originally, the temperaments of ordinary people in the three East Asian countries were very different.
"This movie will definitely cost a lot of money, but I just want to capture the afterglow of this two-thousand-year-old empire and make it an epic masterpiece. It is really very expensive to do things seriously. Thousands of extras have to be paid every day, and they also have to pay wages." They have to be outfitted with appropriate clothing, armor, weapons, and then hundreds of costumers, makeup and hairstylists, all of which have to be flown in from Europe or Hollywood."
"Huh?" Ronald thought, something doesn't seem right. I have been to the Xujiahui Film Factory. The policy given by the Ministry of Culture there is to fully support the export of culture to the world, and everything can be coordinated. Besides, the labor cost there is very cheap, how can it be as exaggerated as Jeremy said?
"So 25 million US dollars is completely insufficient. I couldn't reveal anything in front of my colleagues at the reception ceremony that day, otherwise they would completely mess up the matter.
I have to maintain the public image that I have no problem with funding and that people just like to invest in films that are already successful. "
"Matthew effect? I understand. Do you still need money? Isn't 25 million enough?" Ronald asked.
"Of course it's not enough. A small half of my financing came from Heimdall Productions (the producer of Terminator), and the rest I worked hard to find little by little. And this film has not yet found a distributor.
So in addition to the production costs, I also have to prepare a reserve fund in case there are problems with the filming there. You also need to be prepared to distribute it in America, even if it is screened in one state after another.
For a movie of this epic nature, Hollywood distributors are timid, a bunch of eggless bastards and cowards.
I am very confident that "The Last Emperor" can compete with David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" in terms of awards and box office. "
"How far are you short?" Ronald wanted to know more details. He really wanted to invest in this movie. There are too few movies in Hollywood to promote Chinese history and culture. There is nothing wrong with having such an opportunity to let the audience know more about Chinese history. good.
"There's about ten million left. Can you invest?" Jeremy Thomas was overjoyed. There were very few investors who were so easy to negotiate with.
"Ten million? I don't have that much money. I'm just a director. It's the producers and film companies who make the big money in Hollywood."
Ronald retracted his hand that was about to reach into his wallet for his checkbook.
Jeremy Thomas is a man who speaks without limits, asking for ten million dollars. He denied it in public before, and now he talks like a lion. He really can't be trusted.
"No?" Jeremy Thomas felt a little frustrated. "In fact, ten million includes a reserve of two million and a distribution budget of eight million. You can get it with only two million. But there must be others around you. People are willing to invest in your vision."
"Ronald, art is great. There is a very bad trend in Hollywood right now, which is to only make those types of movies that have been proven by the market. Some movies clearly have the potential for artistic achievement and box office potential, but those who don't understand it at all The studio executives of the film just refused to give the green light, and it was for this reason that I became an independent producer.
"I agree, but I really don't have any money."
Ronald actually quite agrees with Jeremy's statement. Movies rely on the interest of stars so that studios can safely invest in them. This inevitably leads to a dislike of groundbreaking genre films. In order to minimize risks, stars also focus on movie scripts that fit the star's image.
"It doesn't matter, as long as Ronald you are willing to take the lead in investing, many people in Hollywood will follow. I know they all believe in your vision.
I know you are interested in Chinese culture. People don’t know the greatness of Chinese culture, and that thousands of years before we entered London, Confucius wrote great works that are comparable to the Bible.
This is a great history. Together with Bertolucci, I will slowly open the curtain of this ancient and mysterious country and show it to everyone in the world. "
Jeremy Thomas went on to talk a bit about Ronald's support of Asian culture.
He knew that Ronald had criticized the movie "Year of the Dragon" that insulted Chinese Americans, supported the protests against injustice suffered by Chinese Americans, and filmed the mysterious mentor of Japanese Americans, Master Miyagi.
When many people look at the magic of Japanese companies, they also think that Japanese people are really powerful. There is no such resistance as in the past to those who take away their jobs. After all, their products are indeed of high quality and affordable.
"Let me think about it carefully."
Ronald felt that what he said made sense. The success of a movie could sometimes evoke a change in the status of an ethnic group. It would be a pity if an epic film like "The Last Emperor" could not be made as perfect as possible because of a small budget.
But some of Jeremy Thomas's ways... Although understanding your customers is a basic requirement for sales, but having studied yourself so thoroughly that he even asked about supporting Chinese Americans always made Ronald a little uncomfortable. .
"Of course, of course...but you are a benchmark. As long as you can support it, even if it is hundreds of thousands of dollars, I can raise more money in Hollywood, so that Bertolucci can fully perform.
"Well, let me think about it. My financial affairs, especially film investments, need to be discussed with my agent and accountant."
Ten million is fine, hundreds of thousands is fine, why does this sound so unreliable?
"This is the phone number of my assistant in Hollywood. Contact me as soon as possible. As long as you can invest, I think someone from the seven major studios will be willing to consider releasing this film in America."
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