Chapter 68 Adjusting the Plot

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 because there are several scenes involving island shooting, so after the opening conference, the crew transferred to the Caribbean, this time director Verbinski chose to put the shooting location in Dominica, this island country is located in the Caribbean Hispaniola island east. The island is located in the eastern part of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. It is bordered by Haiti in the west, the Caribbean Sea in the south, the Atlantic Ocean in the north, and Puerto Rico in the east across the Strait of Mona.

The film was shot in the Dominican Republic with 600 members of the production crew alone, and more than 400 people were hired locally. The filming of the movie was a great success for the island nation, which has the flavor of the Caribbean from 200 years ago, as evidenced by the food and drink for the entire crew. On important shooting days, the catering department had to prepare three meals a day for between 780 and 840 people, requiring between 1,100 and 1,500 eggs for breakfast alone, 100 to 160 pounds of bacon, 80 loaves of bread, 50 pounds of sausage, more than 10 crates of fruit, and much more. All the food, except for Dominican specialties, was shipped to the area from the United States.

All these things of course did not need Lin Ming Yang to worry about, what he was concerned about now was the script he had just gotten his hands on, the plot on it was a bit different from what he had imagined. In the beginning, he had only provided a rough plot line, and had not been involved in the design of the specific plot. He felt that there were a few places in the plot that had to be revised, as it would affect the quality of the entire movie.

However, when Lin Mingyang took the script to director Verbinski, he came across him slamming out of his temporary office with a curse, followed by his assistant who had an innocent expression on her face.

From a long distance away, Lin Mingyang could hear Verbinski loudly cursing those local native chiefs, "There's absolutely no way I'm going to accept this, they're nakedly extorting me!"

Just two days ago, Lin Mingyang had witnessed Verbinski declaring in front of the media that he had cooperated well with the locals, and he was surprised to see him change his mind so quickly.

Verbinski finally realized Lin Mingyang's presence at this time, "Felix, when did you come over?" He beckoned for his assistant to brew a cup of coffee for Lin Mingyang.

Lin Ming Yang didn't have the courtesy to pull over a stool and sit down himself. "Just came over, then I saw you losing your temper."

"It's not because of those damn natives, they actually said that our filming insulted their ancestors!" Verbinski's lingering anger told Lin Mingyang roughly how it all started.

The crew was recently filming on Bataca Island in the Dominican Republic when there was a five-minute scene where Captain Jack, played by Johnny Depp, was accidentally captured by a cannibalistic tribe, and placed in a large iron pot surrounded by vegetables and fruits, where Captain Jack nearly became a meal for the tribesmen. It was a shot that drew the ire of local Dominican tribal leaders, who believed the film's director had misinterpreted their ancestors and mistaken them for cannibals, and then demanded an apology from the crew.

"We employed more than 400 locals, 70% of them are unemployed and at home, we gave them jobs and income, I didn't realize these guys weren't satisfied, they're extorting!" Verbinski added indignantly, Lin Ming Yang took the coffee that that assistant made for himself and didn't comment on the matter, but that assistant asked cautiously.

"Sir, how do we respond to this matter?"

"You go and tell them that this story is pure fiction, then tell them to get lost!" Verbinski waved his hand impatiently.

At this time, Lin Ming Yang, who had been "coldly watching", jokingly added: "If there is any similarity, it's purely an asshole!"

"I like that!" Lin Mingyang's humor amused Verbinski, and then he changed his attitude towards the matter, "You and their representatives explain it seriously, analyze the pros and cons with them clearly, everyone can profit on this issue, it's a fanciful story so there's no need to involve the issue with their ancestors."

Only after that assistant went out did he smile at Lin Ming Yang with a helpless face, "Look, being a director isn't easy!" At the press conference Lin Ming Yang had mentioned his desire to be a director, that's why he said that.

"That's something I've experienced before!" Lin Ming Yang nodded with understanding, this was something he had already known last year when he was filming Cinderella's Glass Phone, not to mention that Verbinski was now trying to maintain such a large crew.

"So you're here this time?" Verbinski didn't have the free time to emote with Lin Ming Yang right now, so he asked very directly.

Lin Ming Yang put away the teasing expression on his face and said very seriously, "Because of the script!"

"The script?" Verbinski froze, "The plot was completed exactly according to the main line you provided, could there be any problems?"

"On a few details, I feel the need to make changes, as it will affect the overall look and feel of the movie."

Lin Ming Yang's words were definitely not "empty words", so the expression on Verbinski's face became serious, "Tell me!"

"First of all, there is the issue of the emotional relationship between the three main characters, Elizabeth's relationship with Captain Jack is too ambiguous, which is hard for me to accept."

"Looks like our 'Will' is jealous!" Verbinski laughed, "I think the writers who designed this episode probably felt that Will and Elizabeth being too emotionally stable before would make the plot fall into a cliché, so they arranged for it."

"But it shouldn't be Captain Jack!" Lin Ming Yang shook his head, "From Captain Jack's point of view, there's no problem to play along once in a while, but you can't play for real, especially when you're dealing with your own friend's fiancée, a captain is a captain, individualized, unique, and he belongs to all the fandom. From Elizabeth and Will's point of view, consistent love is what everyone wants to see. I was worried that without the necessary changes to the plot, the movie would fall into the love triangle cliché."

Verbinski considered for a while and finally nodded, he felt that Lin Ming Yang's concern was not unreasonable, especially since the movies produced by Dinesh Company were always portrayed in a wholesome light, adding such a bridge would indeed have some negative impact on the teenage audience.

"Then there's about the portrayal of the character of Captain Jack." Mentioning Captain Jack, Lin Ming Yang naturally thought of the quirky, unconventional, quick-witted, quick to act in a crisis, slightly neurotic, wandering on the edge of morality, and not forgetting to flick an orchid finger in his hand from time to time, and it had to be said that Johnny Depp's portrayal of the character gave the character a mysterious power, so that all people could not help but be attracted to him.

In the sequel episode, Captain Jack is still as scruffy and see-sawing as ever. But in a sense he is again an absolute good guy. There's a common man in him; he's hungry for success and a little greedy. He betrays his friends, yet sacrifices his life for them. It is with such and such shortcomings that the imagination of Captain Jack becomes more and more real.

About Captain Jack in "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", Lin Mingyang remembered three scenes most deeply, one is on the island of the savage, Jack tied with a long stick full of fruit to run around, dexterous and agile and funny. The second was when the large octopus attacked the Black Pearl, he left in a small boat, on the sea he looked at the Black Pearl in the distance, then glanced at the compass, the picture cut away, because the compass guides the user to what they want most in their heart, at that moment Jack chose a friend, the Black Pearl. The last place is the confrontation with the big octopus after Jack breaks free from his chains, instead of choosing to run away, he smiles and jumps into the mouth of the octopus with his sword in hand, a moment where Jack's bravery is shown to the fullest.

But Lin Ming Yang felt that this is not enough, as a captain, in the critical time Jack should come forward, perhaps because of cowardice, he will choose to escape at first, but when he decided to return to the Black Pearl, he should choose to stay without hesitation, have the consciousness of sinking with the ship. Instead of arranging the heroine Elizabeth to have an ambiguous kiss with him, the bravery that he chose to be tempted by beauty more or less destroys the perfect image of Captain Jack in Lin Ming Yang's mind.

"I think Johnny Depp will be very supportive of such a modification from you, he has always complained that the original screenwriter wrote Captain Jack as too bad and not brave enough in critical moments, and this time you've fulfilled his hero complex, he'll love you to death!" Verbinski didn't object to Lin Mingyang's second modification, because after Lin Mingyang's first modification was passed, the following plot was bound to follow.

"All of your concerns should have been resolved, so now we have to talk about my current concern, when are you and those few of your partners from Yamakasi going to make their debut?"

Verbinski hadn't attached such importance to this issue before, even though he had promised Lin Mingyang an attempt to include some parkour elements in the filming of the movie, but that was an attempt after all. This change in attitude occurred after he learned that Luc Besson was also actively preparing a movie with parkour as a thematic element.

Who is Luc Besson? This guy is known as the French "Spielberg", he once also stayed in Hollywood for a period of time, and then made the classic "This Killer Is Not Too Cold", which was famous for a while. As a peer, there will inevitably be comparisons, so for parkour, Verbinski also began to become enthusiastic.

"I'm going to put them next to 'Immortal' Davy Jones as the crew on the 'Flying Dutchman', and then in the fight for the Heart of Jones on Cruces Island with me in a rivalry scene, an obstacle chase in the jungle and rocks, and then end with a battle between us." Lin Mingyang spelled out his plan, and in this final scene of the fight for the Heart of Jones, the movie was divided into several threads that unfolded at the same time.

Captain Jack fights the enemy on the rollers, while Keira Knightley is going to be in the movie as a beautiful woman juggling a pair of swords, and together with Lin Ming Yang's line, they all make up the final battle for the island at the end of the movie.

For such an arrangement, Verbinski couldn't find any reason to oppose it, but he was now more concerned about other things, such as those members of Yamakasi that Lin Mingyang had found, how did their stances compare to David Belle's?

Lin Ming Yang easily understood Verbinski's strings, "David Bell is the founder of parkour, the earliest Yamakasi was also formed by him, no one who came after him has been able to surpass him yet." Lin Mingyang didn't deliberately elevate David Bell's status, but he didn't take himself into consideration when he said this.

"So that's it!" Verbinski's brows furrowed, "Then do we have any advantages? I mean in terms of parkour."

Lin Ming Yang felt a little amused, but he could understand Verbinski's feelings, no one wanted to do worse than others, especially when the other party was also a very famous director. On this issue even if Verbinski didn't have a fight in mind, the media would still put the two together to make comparisons.

"As far as I know, the film that Mr. Luc Besson is planning to make is dedicated to reflecting the sport of parkour, so it will definitely be filled with a lot of parkour footage, and at this point, we don't have an advantage to speak of. Of course, we also have our own strengths, first of all, in terms of time, Mr. Luc Besson's film is still just a plan, to wait for him to really go to the realization of our film has already met with the audience, which has seized the opportunity; secondly, this is a magical film, so you can use special effects, parkour can be more varied forms of expression, and the final effect of the shoot out, certainly to be more appealing than pure parkour. attract the audience's eyes more than just parkour."