Movie Master

When people mention Brazil, many words will come to mind, such as color, samba, football, beach, beauty, leisure, self-satisfaction... and so on. Brazil, with its blue sea, blue sky and unrestrained enthusiasm, has become the most unique landscape in South America. Rio de Janeiro, the "capital of carnival", even spread friendly arms to embrace people from all over the world. Brazilians said, "God created the world in six days, and created Rio de Janeiro on the seventh day."

But only those who have really been to this land know that this is definitely not the only face of Brazil; only those who have really lived in this land know that behind this passionate soil, there is a darkness that goes deep into the bone marrow. The turbulent gang violence, the blatant drug/drug trade, the black and white collusion, the filthy life of the poor... Just a few streets away from the blue sea and blue sky of Rio de Janeiro, there is a slum at the bottom of the society, where crimes occur almost every day Playing it here.

The novel "City of Gods" written by Paul Lins tells the story of a slum called the City of Gods in Rio de Janeiro. Paul, who was born at the bottom of the slums, spent eight years conducting interviews and collecting relevant information on the drug trade, and it took a total of ten years to complete the novel. Its authenticity, profundity, and reflectiveness have all been enthusiastically sought after, and it has become one of the best-selling novels in Brazil.

In fact, many Brazilians, even locals who have lived in Rio de Janeiro for many years, were shocked by this novel.

People are always like this, confined to their own circle of life, thinking that they have enough understanding of the world around them, but in fact, there is still a certain gap between the life of the middle class and the bottom of society. , citizenship, education, prospects and future, etc. are just abstract concepts.

This is the case with the novel "City of Gods", which profoundly reveals the brutal reality of Brazilian society such as apartheid, **** violence, and lack of education. many middle-class ideologies.

The movie "City of God" adapted from "City of God" is such a special movie. Its protagonist is not a specific person, but this slum called the City of God, which tells the story of the whole area. A history recounting the dozens of tangled stories that took place here, revealing a whole new, uncharted territory, real and brutal.

"City of God" achieved great success after it was released. It not only revived the Brazilian film industry, but also became a representative of Brazilian films together with "Central Station", becoming famous all over the world; It has gained a certain degree of awareness and caused a wide and far-reaching sensation in Brazil.

On the 76th Oscar, "City of God" was shortlisted for four nominations including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing as a foreign language film. It is a pity that due to the release time, the deadline for the best foreign language film was missed. It is widely believed that, if it were not for this, this work is the most serious contender for the best foreign language film of the year.

In addition, what is embarrassing is that when "City of God" was released in North America, the publicity was not in place, and it did not attract much attention. Then it missed the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, resulting in the box office failing to improve. One step closer, only 7.5 million US dollars was harvested. Although this achievement is already excellent compared to the film's mere 3.3 million investment, it pales in comparison to the film's subsequent performance in the video tape market.

After the rise of the Internet age, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), which best reflects the authority of the audience and the power of fans, has justified the name of "City of God". Among the top ten films list, it has been in the top 20 for more than ten years, firmly occupying the top spot of non-English films!

Previously, Lance held a little hope—hoping to find a suitable project among the six novels, which would become a platform for him to start again, but unexpectedly, he dug a gold mine! A veritable gold mine!

If "Lost in Translation" is a masterpiece, then "City of God" can definitely be called a classic!

Taking "City of God" as Lance's comeback work is really a perfect choice, and it can definitely be called a blockbuster. Of course, the best situation is that Lance also grabs "Lost in Translation" and then independently produces "City of God", but Lance also knows that this is too greedy. Don't say that Ryan will never let "Lost in Translation" go easily. Even if Lance succeeds in snatching food, with his current funds and resources, it is impossible to produce two works at the same time.

Given the choice between "Lost in Translation" and "City of God", Lance would choose the latter without hesitation. And now Lance is firmly holding the adaptation copyright of "City of God", which can definitely be a sleepy pillow.

Resisting some over-excited thoughts, Lance carefully looked through the relevant materials of the novel "City of Gods", and found that he had bought the adaptation copyright of the novel in 1998 - when they put "Central Station" It was introduced to the North American market and achieved great success, so Lance took advantage of the opportunity to persuade Paul and won the copyright. However, Lance has not been able to find a suitable screenwriter for the adaptation work.

"City of God" is a work with distinctive Brazilian characteristics. A competent screenwriter must have a deep understanding of Brazilian culture, politics, economy, and structure. Have a deep understanding of all languages ​​used. But how easy is it?

Later, Lance himself began to try script adaptation work. Lance studied Spanish at Cambridge University, where he studied Spanish-language literature and culture in depth, and even studied some Latin. Although Brazil speaks Portuguese, Lance decided to give it a try.

However, the adaptation work is really too huge. In the past three years, Lance has taken one to two months to live in Rio de Janeiro every year. The most important thing is that you can visit the City of God in person.

Even so, the script adaptation work is still not complete. Only a semi-finished script was found in the materials. This semi-finished product was sandwiched in a notebook, and only one-third of it was completed, but the densely packed notes in the notebook took up two-thirds of the entire book. It can be seen that Lance The importance and seriousness of this script. As for the quality of the script...you'll have to read it in detail before coming to a conclusion.

Holding the notebook, Lance was a little dazed for a moment. He couldn't help but began to think, if he hadn't crossed over in the previous life, would Lance have a chance to rise again? Even with Ryan's suppression, even with George's betrayal, even with Lance's own ignorance, but...

"Have you found the treasure?" Percy's voice interrupted Lance's thoughts. He nodded and handed the novel "City of Gods" to Percy. "I think this novel has great potential."

Percy took the novel and started to read it, but didn't stop asking questions, "So have you decided? Do you want to start a new production company by yourself, or cooperate with a big studio?" Percy looked up at Lan Just a glance.

After leaving the cemetery today, Lance himself has been thinking about this issue. He has thought about countless possibilities. On the whole, cooperating with a major studio is the most suitable and convenient way. After all, Lance is now re-opening a production company, and it is definitely not an easy task to catch up with the diorama film industry in a short time; and with the rapid rise of the diorama film industry, there is not much time left for him. too much. Although cooperating with a big studio is bound to be tied, but from the perspective of short-term benefits, it is the easiest choice.

Now the "City of God" script appeared again.

The filming of this work is definitely not easy. First of all, it is bound to go to Rio de Janeiro for filming, which involves difficult issues such as official cooperation and transnational cooperation. Secondly, it is best to shoot the film on-site in the slums, so the local gangsters will bear the brunt. Not to mention the poor law and order around and the high crime rate.

Therefore, if you want to shoot "City of God", it is wisest to seek the cooperation of a well-developed production company, and it is best to be a large production company with experience in overseas filming—otherwise, after arriving in Brazil, you will have two eyes. A smear of black, UU reading www.uukanshu. This is not a good sign.

But herein lies the problem, "City of God" is not an easy work for a major studio.

The performance of non-English films in the North American market has always been very poor. As of 2002, only six non-English works had a North American box office of more than 20 million U.S. dollars, of which only two works achieved a box office of 40 million U.S. dollars. One is "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in China, and the other is "Life is Beautiful" in Italy.

In addition, the performance space of non-English films at the awards ceremony is also very limited-most of the works are summarized in the best foreign language film, and thousands of troops are crowded on a single-plank bridge, which is enough to give anyone a headache. situation.

In short, the development space of non-English films in North America is very limited, and the benefits of recycling are also very limited. No major production company is willing to spend energy. Typically, it's only a small studio in the early stages of development that travels the world tirelessly looking for opportunities—and that's how Diorama Pictures got its start.

Considering the film cost of "City of God", although the film only cost three million U.S. dollars, he simply can't afford such a large amount of cash now. So... here's a tricky one.

Lance decided to try to finish the adaptation of the script before saying, "Hold the bargaining chip in your hand first!" The unexpected answer made Percy stunned, and he didn't realize the meaning of Lance's words for a while. It's just that he saw the confident light in Lance's eyes shining brightly.

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