Chapter 188： The result of the trial

? Before nine o'clock in the morning, Ang Lee joined Xu Ligong and rushed to the agreed place by the vehicle provided by the hotel.

Xu Ligong asked, "How's your inquiry?"

Ang Lee said directly: "Ronan Anderson is the owner of Embassy Pictures. This embassy film industry is very powerful. It has been established for more than 20 years. It was acquired by Ronan Anderson last year. The first film released after the acquisition was "The Witch "Blair" is said to have earned nearly 300 million U.S. dollars in box office worldwide with a publicity fee of more than 20 million U.S. dollars."

"So, the distribution capacity of Embassy Pictures is guaranteed?" Xu Ligong is not difficult to come to this conclusion.

Ang Lee said: "There is also "Reaper Is Coming" last December. In North America alone, the box office reached more than 80 million US dollars.

Xu Ligong fell into thinking.

"Embassy Pictures has more than ten years of cooperation with major theater companies in North America." Li An continued: "No matter the art theater chain or the commercial chain theater chain, there is cooperation."

Xu Ligong nodded slowly, and then asked after a while: "You have worked with many companies in Hollywood, but contacting them has been without results?"

Ang Lee directly shook his head: "I have sent invitations to all six major companies for the premiere, but only Sony Entertainment came here. It was because Sony Classics had a little investment, and the movie viewer didn't talk to us at all."

He sighed: "My last "Riding with the Devil"..."

Xu Ligong knew that this film directed by Ang Lee could not be described as a fiasco. The film company has always been realistic. If you don’t know Ang Lee enough, they will not be determined to cooperate with him in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Ang Lee asked at this moment: "How did you talk to Harvey Weinstein last night?"

"Very unsatisfactory." Xu Ligong said: "Miramax wants to buy out the North American copyright at one time, but Harvey Weinstein is only willing to pay 5 million US dollars."

Hearing this number, Li Ang said: "This person has always liked to keep prices down. It is estimated that no other large issuing companies have contacted us. He has always been well informed."

Xu Ligong's contact with Harvey Weinstein seemed very unpleasant, a little anger flashed across his face, and said: "We'll talk about it after we talked with Ronan Anderson."

The film has premiered in Cannes, and the most important North American release has not yet arrived. He is somewhat anxious.

As soon as ten o'clock arrived, Li Ang and Xu Ligong were waiting for Ronan in the cafe.

The two sides shook hands to say hello, and quickly turned to the topic.

Ronan did not directly say that he would release "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but first questioned the film.

This is also a temptation to test whether the opponent has a hole card in the issuance.

"Director Li, Mr. Xu." Ronan said seriously: "I have read Mr. Wang Dulu's original work, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". The story has almost changed except for the background age and the names of the characters."

Xu Ligong looked at Ronan in surprise.

Ang Lee has been in the United States for many years and knew that there are martial arts enthusiasts, and said: "Mr. Anderson has also seen martial arts?"

Ronan nodded: "I have read the original, not the English translation." He switched to Chinese directly: "Don't doubt, I can understand it."

Hearing a Chinese-style northern accent, Xu Ligong reacted and said, "Mr. Anderson knows about martial arts movies?"

"Understand a little bit." Ronan thought for a while, and said, "This is what makes me strange. Director Li, with all due respect, this film you made is seriously inconsistent with the spirit of oriental martial arts films and martial arts. , And even completely subverted the martial arts film that has been developing for many years in the East."

Ang Li did not answer, Xu Ligong said: "Mr. Anderson knows what martial arts represents?"

Ronan didn't care about Xu Ligong's continuous doubts. After all, his appearance is here. In the inherent concept of the East, how many Yankees would be interested in martial arts movies and martial arts?

Regardless of Xu Ligong’s words, Ronan continued to question Li Ang: “As far as I know, one of the themes of martial arts films is the feelings of family and country. Mr. Jin Yong’s works have been described. The great man is for the country and the people. The other is. Pay attention to vertical and horizontal rivers and lakes, fight against injustices, be happy and enmity..."

Xu Ligong was a little surprised. The fact that a ghost veteran could say such words shows that he has not only watched martial arts movies and martial arts, but also studied in depth.

Can someone who knows martial arts movies be the distributor of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"? It seems to be better than those publishers who don't understand anything and mess around.

Ang Lee suddenly smiled and said: "Mr. Anderson is very reasonable." He paused, and then said: "Your words summarize the essence of martial arts movies and the spirit of martial arts."

Ronan didn't seem to eat these compliments at all, and continued to test: "But I didn't see these on "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". This...it's not like a martial arts movie."

Xu Ligong frowned. Suddenly, he felt that it was troublesome to meet a wise old man.

Ang Li was very calm and asked, "Mr. Anderson, do you really intend to release this film of me?"

Ronan of course would not give a positive answer, saying: "I personally like martial arts movies, but your "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" gave me a lot of doubts, because the adaptation range is too large, and it is consistent with what I know. Wuxia movies are completely different."

As soon as he said this, Ang Li immediately understood that if the boss of the issuing company cannot be dispelled, the business will definitely be blown up this time.

At present, there is only one Miramax in North America, and the price is extremely unsatisfactory. If the current publishing company gives up, when can we find a suitable North American publisher?

The tragic failure of "Riding with the Devil" has shaken Li Ang's confidence.

Xu Ligong wanted to interrupt, but resisted. Compared with Li Ang, he didn't know enough about Hollywood.

Li Ang thought about it and said: "This is indeed an unconventional martial arts movie, which contains a lot of my personal stuff. A few years ago, I read Wang Dulu's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Among martial arts, I like Bai Yu the most. Yes, followed by Wang Dulu. When I was shooting "Sense and Emotion", I conceived "Ice Storm", and at the same time, Mr. Xu negotiated for the copyright of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"."

Ronan's real purpose is not to question the movie, but to test whether the other party has any other cards in the release, and to dissolve the other party's mentality that the other party might expect too much, he did not interrupt at this time.

Ang Lee's voice is not high, and he seems worried that Ronan will not understand him. He speaks Chinese at a very slow speed: "Generally, martial arts always have men as the protagonist, which is more masculine. The focus of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is the heroine Yujiao. The dragon has a quirky and complicated psychological level. During the day, she is a golden lady, and she fights and talks about love at night. She is an unruly girl who has fantasies about the love of her children. She is also a rare character in Chinese drama."

"At the beginning of the project, many people were not optimistic, because the heroes Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian in the book did not have many roles, and Liu Taibao, a small character with a lot of space and very vivid and interesting, was unable to take the lead, and the protagonist Yu Jiaolong was personally avoided for fear. No one agrees with the fierce role except I like it. But I have shot three western films one after another, and I must shoot the middle films."

"With regard to adaptation, I think so. There are two paths to film adaptation: you can choose to destroy the original and make a good movie, or be loyal to the original and make a bad movie."

Ronan agreed with these words very much, and nodded insignificantly.

Ang Lee continued: "I think movies and movies are different carriers. When adapting, they often have to be changed from the inside to the face. The film is mainly good-looking. If it is bad, why should it be loyal to the original? How can the beauty of the text be replaced by sound and shadow. On the contrary, the best film must be indescribable. It doesn't matter whether you are loyal to the original or not."

Ronan was unmoved, as if his interest in this movie was limited.

Compared with the director of Li Ang, Xu Ligong is more like a businessman, and then interjected: "Mr. Anderson, in fact, this film is tailor-made for Western audiences!"

Ronan gradually determined the results of the trial. Looking at these two people, 80% of them did not find a suitable publisher, and it is estimated that there are no candidates.

Coupled with the exclusivity of the North American market and the upstream position of the issuing company's industrial chain, it instantly gave him plenty of confidence.

Ronan was deliberately puzzled: "How do you say this?"

Unlike Li Ang, Xu Ligong immediately said from a market perspective: "We tailored two pairs of protagonists and two clues for Westerners. Li Mubai and Yu Xiulian, the two protagonists, are prepared for Western intellectuals, platonic love, Shakespearean dialogue and lofty humanistic realm are typical Western culture."

Like many filmmakers, he is also promoting his films to publishers: "Luo Xiaohu and Yu Jiaolong, the protagonists of the western cowboy characters who dare to love, hate, dare to fight, dare to kill, are prepared for ordinary American audiences. Yes; the story of Li Mubai avenging his master to kill the blue-eyed fox coincides with the main line of "The Earl of Monte Cristo", and the clue of stealing the Qing Mingjian is very similar to an American popular drama."

Xu Ligong emphasized: "So the significance of this movie is not to show how many oriental elements, but to make Westerners understand and accept this display in an appropriate way."

"The two said some truth. UU reading " Ronan said lightly: "But one thing is terrible! Director Li, this film has too much of your thoughts, which makes it more Authorization, not popularization! "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has been out of the scope of popular martial arts movies!"

Faced with a person who knew enough about martial arts movies, Ang Lee could not deny this.

Ronan continued to beat their psychology: "The reason why I am willing to talk to you is because there are a group of martial arts fans in North America. They are the potential audience for this film, but the subversive style of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is extremely May make these people give up."

He emphasized: "Martial arts films are inherently niche, and the audience for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" will be even smaller. Publishing such a film is extremely risky."

The hearts of Li Ang and Xu Ligong are sinking, especially Li Ang, he does not want to cooperate with the Weinstein brothers.

Ronan timely said: "Embassy Pictures has to take great risks. If there is a slight difference in operation, we may lose our money. If you really want this film to appear on the market, out of my personal hobby, I can Let Embassy Pictures try. But the distribution fee is 50% of the total revenue, and the publicity fee is calculated separately."