Chapter 99: Open and Secret Struggle

Unsurprisingly, producer Gary Lucchesi, after learning that Lin Ming Yang had a fight with director Wiseman on his first day on the set, rushed to Budapest on a plane in a hurry. But when he arrived at the set, he found that the situation was not as bad as he had imagined, and Lin Mingyang and Weissman actually talked to each other in front of him in a friendly manner.

"The story of 'Legend of the Night' is not derived from a novel or a comic, but is the product of a group of fellow enthusiasts talking about how we want to create a world where vampires and werewolves coexist based on science." Wiseman elaborated on his concept for the script, while Lin Ming Yang had a look on his face that he was listening very carefully. It was completely impossible to tell from the expressions of the two that there had been a heated argument between them yesterday.

Since the birth of gothic movies, vampires and werewolves had been an enduringly popular subject in Hollywood movies, and Legend of the Dark could be said to have dug even deeper, and Wiseman was actually saying this more to show off his creativity to Lin Ming Yang.

"We're going to give up on starting from mysticism and instead base it on science, so I created a virus that is the very cause of vampires and werewolves. If you follow genetic logic, you'll be able to explain everything related. If a genetic mutation or a change in blood type over the years created the vampire, then you would be able to find a way to kill the vampire, as well as explore why silver can affect that blood type. It's safe to say that I set out to make more sense of vampires and werewolves."

"This does sound great, so you're planning to make a sci-fi movie?" Lin Mingyang's serious expression matched his sincere tone, so that onlookers couldn't hear a hint of sarcasm. Those who didn't know the inside story would really think that he was humbly asking Wiseman for advice, but Wiseman himself knew that he was being sarcastic and hadn't even figured out the genre of the movie he was going to make.

"I read that vampire-related novel you wrote, it was a really good romance, no wonder so many girls love that story." Wiseman sneered back, sounding as if he was praising Lin Ming Yang for writing Twilight, but in fact he was sarcastically criticizing him for writing romance novels under the guise of magic.

"I don't have the ability to argue logically as rigorously as you do, Mr. Wiseman, so I just think that instead of spending ink and ink to explore species that don't exist in the first place, and having to find a seemingly plausible excuse for their existence, it's better to arrange a romantic story that's a bit more practical!" Lin Mingyang smiled unconcernedly, "So Mr. Wiseman also likes reading novels, I wonder if you've read author Nancy Collins' novel Vampire Love?"

"Unfortunately, I never read stories that are that old." Wiseman denied it on the surface, but the shock in his heart was unmistakable, because it was a short story that was published ten years ago and had no fame, he didn't think that Lin Mingyang had actually read it.

"It may be that my taste is a bit backward, but I happened to read that novel in a magazine, what surprised me was that the storyline in it was very similar to the content of the script of Legend of the Dark, so I suggest Mr. Wiseman that you'd better apply for a copyright appraisal before the film's release, if Mr. Collins were to sue the film for copyright infringement, that would not be a good idea! " Lin Ming Yang seemed to be talking to himself, but Wiseman was listening to his heart pounding, but this was just the beginning.

"Since Mr. Wiseman doesn't like reading those corny novels from the past, does he like the current computer games?"

Lin Ming Yang slapped his head, "Oops, I almost forgot, Mr. Wiseman's current age shouldn't be too fond of childish things like computer games either, so you definitely haven't played one of the zombie games produced by Silver Wolf Games either, the plot is very simple, I only used 4 hours to get through them all. But what surprises me is that the content of this game actually has bad similarities with the script setting of Legend of Darkness, I think since Mr. Wiseman hasn't played this game, then this must be a coincidence as well!"

"Thank you for the reminder!" These words popped out from between Wiseman's teeth, and he was now gritting his teeth a bit.

This dark battle that the two had staged in front of Gary Lucchesi had ultimately not been able to hide from producer Gary Lucchesi's eyes, and apart from aggravating his own inner worries, he was more concerned about the words that Lin Ming Yang had said later on. If that was true, Wiseman was probably plagiarizing, and the investors would be at risk of being sued.

"Wiseman, when you convinced the company to invest, you once said that you wrote this script yourself, so what explanation do you have for what Felix said?" In front of Lin Ming Yang, Gary Lucchesi questioned.

"I swear it's definitely a coincidence, I've never even played that game, and I don't know where Collins came up with that guy!" By this point, Wiseman could only grit his teeth and tough it out to the end, even though he did refer to Collins' novels and that game Lin Ming Yang was talking about during the scriptwriting process.

"I think it's also a coincidence, after all, visualizing a vampire as a viral infection isn't something anyone can think of!" Lin Ming Yang rarely helped Wiseman with a "good word", but Gary Lucchesi and Wiseman who were present were not fools, they could hear the irony in Lin Ming Yang's words.

"I don't care if it's a coincidence or not, you wrote the script and you're in charge of it, I don't want anything to go wrong with this movie, so you know what you have to do!" Gary Lucchesi nonchalantly rushed at Wiseman coldly, then turned his head to look at Lin Ming Yang, he knew that the apparent peace between Lin Ming Yang and Wiseman actually contained a much bigger conflict behind the scenes, so while he warned Wiseman, he also didn't forget to knock Lin Ming Yang around a little bit, "Felix, beautiful birds know how to care for their own feathers, surely you've heard of this saying, so you should be able to understand what I mean!"

----

Gary Lucchesi's attitude was a clear signal to both Lin Ming Yang and Wiseman that the producers wanted them to get along peacefully, at least on the surface, and not to make too much of a mess, not to mention affecting the normal operation of the crew.

In order to ensure that the filming of the movie does not go wrong, Gary Lucchesi finally decided to stay on the set, at least until the end of the filming of the movie, so that this superficial peace between the two people to maintain. However, the fight between Wiseman and Lin Mingyang did not end there, so after the film officially started shooting, Lin Mingyang had to endure up to five hours of make-up ordeal every day, but also had to be careful to cope with Wiseman's "backstabbing", as long as his performance was a little bit of a mistake, he would be subjected to the other side of the cynical ridicule.

However, under Weissman's "careful attention", Lin Mingyang's acting skills also improved very quickly, and Weissman was able to pick out fewer and fewer mistakes, which made him feel annoyed, but he had no place to vent his anger. The most difficult thing for Wiseman to accept is that every time the crew rests, Lin Mingyang will invite Kate to travel with him to Budapest, from the Matthias Church to the Fisherman's Castle, from the Heroes' Square to the Hungarian Parliament building, the city of every famous attraction, have left the footprints of the two.

Looking at his sweetheart every day and Lin Mingyang out of the pair in front of their swaying around, Wiseman's temper became more and more grumpy, the fire is also the fish in the pond, can not find a reason to Lin Mingyang attack, the other members of the crew suffered from an undeserved disaster.

At the beginning, everyone in the cast and crew thought that working with director Wiseman would be an unprecedented experience, as the first-time director would not be so rigid and stubborn. Wiseman was initially perceived as a young man who was excited about what he was doing and showed a great deal of enthusiasm, no matter what the difficulties and pressures.

But the cast and crew soon reversed this image, as Wiseman became headstrong and short-tempered, reprimanding people for being a director, which led to a low opinion of him in private.

Lin Mingyang was the opposite, he did not leave a good impression on everyone at the beginning, because of his absence alone, the whole movie could not start on time, and the movie had to be finished on time, which inadvertently increased the work pressure of everyone in the crew, and everyone would most certainly complain in their hearts.

However, in the recent period of time together, we all found that he is actually a good young man, work attitude is serious, speak funny and humorous, although sometimes love to joke, but in his side work, everyone's state is very relaxed. Lin Mingyang in particular is good at creating all kinds of pleasant atmosphere, as long as there is him on the set, you can always hear the laughter of other people.

However, this laughter was unusually harsh in director Wiseman's ears, and as the fountainhead of joy, Lin Mingyang naturally grew more and more unpleasant in Wiseman's eyes. Finally, one of Lin Mingyang's mistakes allowed Wiseman to catch a seizure.

In the set of shots where the heroine Ethelene escaped from the werewolf leader Luxi's pursuit with Michael, because Wiseman was opposed to using computer special effects to create the action shots, the crew chose to use a car to tow the car, where the close-ups of running and jumping onto the car were done by Mike Sing himself, while the telephoto shots were done by stunt doubles.

After this thrilling chase sequence, the leader of the werewolves would jump onto the car before stabbing the roof of the car with a sharp weapon and then sticking it in Catherine's shoulder. Because of the tight leather jacket she was wearing and the thin protective gear Kate wore on her shoulder, the people above her during the performance didn't pay attention and went a little too hard, and the prop didn't cut through her skin, but it did hurt her. According to the design of the script, the first thing Michael should do when he saw this scene was to feel panic, but Lin Mingyang in front of the camera held Kate's shoulders regardless.

"Is everything alright?" Seeing the undisguised concern in Lin Ming Yang's eyes, Kate, who had a cold expression on her face just a moment ago, actually revealed a sweet smile.

But Wiseman, who was outside the camera, furiously yelled "CUT!", and without waiting for the cameraman to move the camera away, he rushed up, pointing at Lin Ming Yang, who had just gotten out of the car, cursing, "You're in a protected underdog, not performing as a superhero. How perfect Kate's performance was in that shot just now, it was all ruined by you idiot!"

The surrounding cast and crew froze, just now that shot can only be considered a small mistake, this is a common thing in the movie shooting process is not not what thrilling difficult action, this kind of NG reshoots once can be, Wiseman is completely unnecessary to send such a big fire.

Kate, who was covering her shoulders, was about to say something, but Lin Mingyang raised his hand to stop her.

He stared expressionlessly at Wiseman, "Are you sure you're responsible for what you just said?"

In full view of everyone, Wiseman had to maintain the director's dignity even if he was wrong, not to mention that he didn't even feel that there was anything wrong with what he said, "Do I have to explain myself to you? You should know very well who is the director of this movie!"

Wiseman wanted to use these words to calm the scene, but the situation took an unexpected rebound, and the discontent in the silent crowd around him finally erupted.

"If the director is wrong, then he should apologize!" The first to protest was cinematographer Pierce Roberts, who had earned Oscar nominations for both A Room with a View and Howards End, and the producers valued his helming of 1999's The Final Battle, which had a very dark picture that just happened to complement the plot of Legends of the Night, and producer Gary Lucchesi felt that Pierce was able to fully comprehend and understand the the plot, and through his lens, the movie would present a mysterious and shadowy underworld.

As the cameraman on the crew, Pierce had always had a close relationship with director Weissman, but now he was the first to "question" Weissman's approach, and under his leadership, the rest of the cast and crew stopped what they were doing, and all felt that Weissman's approach was excessive, and demanded an apology from him to Lin Mingyang.

"What if I refuse?" Despite all the rebellion, Wiseman still refused to back down, in his opinion, the crew members must have been under Lin Ming Yang's compulsion or secretly bribed, that's why they all "turned against him" at this time, forcing him to give in. If he bowed down now, it was tantamount to admitting his failure to Lin Mingyang, which he absolutely could not tolerate.

"Strike!" Pierce Roberts spat out two words very simply, but Wiseman's face became very ugly.

"Don't forget that since I can give you this job, I can likewise give it to someone else!" Wiseman was threatening the crowd with dismissal, but it didn't work as well as he thought it would, as no one chose to back down.

"If you don't apologize, I'm going to announce my dismissal from the show right now!" Kate stood out at this time, everyone else's objections Wiseman could ignore, but Kate was different because she was the star of this movie.

Wiseman was very reluctant to point at Lin Ming Yang and laughed angrily, "Kate, have you gone crazy? I don't know how many women in Hollywood have slept with this guy, and now you're actually giving up your role for him."

The last syllable of this sentence was something that Wiseman made an effort to squeeze out of his own throat, because before he could finish his sentence, Lin Ming Yang pulled his collar and pressed it against the car door. Lin Mingyang's hand strength was already not small, and this time he was even more nonchalant. Wiseman wanted to resist, but his head was pressed down, his face was pressed against the car window glass, and he was squeezed to the point of deformation, and no words came out of his mouth at all.

"The camera could have been left on just now, every word you say can be used as evidence for me to charge you!" Lin Ming Yang gently brought his head to Wiseman's ear, "Familiarity is familiarity, if you talk nonsense, I'll sue you for slander just the same!"