Chapter 189: We Can't Discriminate Against Aliens
Eckles went to Johannesburg, on the way to the crew's location, coincidentally encountered a street robbery, despite sitting in the SUV wrapped in bulletproof glass and composite steel plate, when the robbers fired their guns into the sky, sitting in the back row he was still scared out of a cold sweat. On the contrary, the accompanying security personnel are not surprised sitting in the car, watching the police and robbers in the fierce battle over there when the expression, as if watching a movie.
Two sets of police came to reinforce, the robbers were very arrogant to reach one of the police car into a sieve, and then calmly withdrew. This section of the traffic control immediately contact, from the time of the incident through, see the ground full of water glass and scrapped police car, Eckers feel their eyelids jump, Johannesburg "Sin City" name really is not blown out of proportion.
When he arrived at the hotel where the crew was staying, Eckles' legs were still a bit soft when he got off the bus. After Lin Mingyang learned about Eckles' encounter on the road, he regretted that he didn't go to the airport to pick him up in person, so he missed a wonderful showdown between the police and the robbers.
Ecks didn't stop complaining from the moment he got out of the car, first blaming Johannesburg's chaotic law and order, then cursing the hot local weather, and as he walked towards Lin Mingyang's room, he ripped off his tie, completely disregarding his previous image.
"It's hard to imagine that this place is going to be hosting a World Cup match in just 3 years..."
"You're just lucky to have stumbled upon it!" Lin Mingyang said comfortingly.
"Happened to meet?" Ecks stopped depressed, "You didn't see the expression on the faces of those bodyguards at that time, a robbery in their eyes is the same feeling as watching a movie at home, this kind of habituation means what?"
Lin Ming Yang didn't have the time to stop and stare at Ecks, he didn't even pay attention to the stunned expression on the other's face, and walked forward on his own. Ecks froze and then quickly followed, chattering in Lin Ming Yang's ear, "They're so used to seeing this kind of thing that they've long since become numb...which just goes to show, the amazing crime rate here."
Lin Mingyang suddenly stopped in his tracks, Ecks was so focused on talking that he took a few steps forward before realizing that Lin Mingyang wasn't following. He turned his head to look at Lin Mingyang, his eyes filled with doubt, "Would you stop walking around like that?"
Shrugging helplessly, Lin Ming Yang pointed to the room beside him, "We're already here!"
Ecks retreated a little awkwardly, and as Lin Ming Yang opened the door, he started talking about those bodyguards again, "Do you think they're reliable?"
"They're all very professional!" Lin Ming Yang replied without any trouble.
The room was air-conditioned, sitting on the sofa, Ecks felt a lot more comfortable, when he drank a glass of iced water, his nerves that had been tense finally soothed, "Look at the weapons in their hands, a variety of everything, is this what you call professional?"
"What I mean is, there are quite a few people among them who have switched from robbers, they are familiar with the robber's set, so they know exactly what to prevent!" Lin Mingyang's explanation choked Ecks, who was drinking water, and he stared in shock.
"You're saying that all these bodyguards have worked as robbers before?"
"Either being a robber or a security guard, that's the survival choice for local unemployed blacks. Many of them often switch back and forth between these two identities, but I got these guys to be reliable, please don't doubt their professional ethics!"
"What's this?" Ecks' attention was drawn to the drawing laid out on the couch, "This thing with a face like a cockroach, a head like a lizard, and a body like a prawn is what you envision as an alien?"
"What do you want to say to that?"
"They're ugly looking!"
"Are there any aliens that are good looking in the eyes of humans?" Lin Mingyang asked without any humor.
"Of course!" Ecks hemmed and hawed and laughed wickedly twice, "I think Optimus Prime is just fine!"
Lin Ming Yang was speechless for a while as Ecks continued to point to the red area of the alien's abdomen in the drawing, "Is there a purpose for the special labeling here?"
"There is the alien's reproductive-organs!"
Hearing Lin Ming Yang's explanation, Ecks hastily pulled his hand back, the expression on his face as ugly as if he had eaten a fly.
"Don't worry, they're hermaphrodites, so what you just did isn't considered a violation of them!" Looking at the craven expression on Ecks' face, the corner of Lin Ming Yang's mouth hooked up into a smile of mischievous triumph.
"I think you're deliberately scandalizing the aliens..." grumbled Ecks, putting down the drawings, and then he found two more pictures. One of them he quickly identified as a sign that often hung in some upscale establishments during the worst times of racial discrimination in the United States that read, "No Colored People Allowed!"
And the other photo, next to the patterned signs for children, women, and men, there was a prawn-shaped pattern with a red cross, and next to it it said, "No aliens allowed!"
There were quite a few other similar photos below these two photos, all sorts of signage with the words No Aliens Allowed, "Are these the ones you have for this movie?"
"Isn't this similar to the scenes depicted in those historical materials you're familiar with?" Lin Ming Yang picked up the first photo that Ecks was looking through, "This is a sign from the period when apartheid was implemented in South Africa, I know that during the 1950s in the United States, this kind of signage was common in the United States as well!"
"Apartheid was never practiced in the United States, the federal constitution does not allow such a system to exist..."
"Then how do you explain the existence of historical Indian reservations?"
"That was to protect the Indians as they existed!" Eckles argued.
"That tone sounds familiar to me; apartheid was also claimed to have been established in South Africa to protect more blacks, and in my script, the official spokesman claimed that the Ninth District was established to provide them with a more perfect place to live."
Ecks thought that he couldn't speak to Lin Ming Yang, so he could only throw the photo aside, and then changed the subject as they talked about the casting of the movie.
The movie District 9 was the easiest together in terms of casting since becoming a director, because from a strict point of view, all the other characters in the movie were just dragons except for the male lead, Wikus. The faux-documentary style of filming has the advantage that the direct interviews and dialog are not difficult at all, and the performers just have to follow the teleprompter with a little expression or movement to get it right.
According to Hollywood commercial movie shooting practice, this kind of movie should find a heavyweight star to "lead", but Lin Mingyang is not ready to do so, not that he can not afford to spend money, but it is worth the money spent.
"Such an important role, but you are prepared to find a no-name actor?" Ecks felt that Lin Ming Yang's idea was still a bit too "casual".
"The point is that this role doesn't have much to offer in terms of performance, and it doesn't require any high level of acting skill to play it, so it's impossible for even the most powerful actor to bring a qualitative change to the role." Lin Mingyang said with full of concern, "As a sci-fi movie, I gave up the flashy special effects; and as a commercial movie, I also gave up the stars with more box office appeal. If the plot can already support the whole movie, then all other embellishments should be superfluous."
Ecks realized that he had been brought into Lin Mingyang's mindset from the very beginning, and as soon as he came across a controversial topic, his ideas were untenable. After realizing this, Ecks wisely avoided those topics where he disagreed with Lin Ming Yang.
"How did you meet Peter Jackson?"
"Do I know him?" Lin Ming Yang froze, he didn't understand why Ecks would suddenly ask about this.
Ecks was also puzzled, "If you don't know each other, then why would he call me?"
"We merely chatted at the Oscar celebration party the year before last...could it be because of this?" Lin Mingyang thought about it, it seemed like he and Peter Jackson had that one contact.
"That's right, he heard that you were in Johannesburg shooting a movie related to aliens, and then introduced a director named Neil Blomkamp, saying that he was recommending him to you as an assistant." It was for this matter that Ecks flew all the way here from the United States, "This Neil is a native of South Africa, and it seems that he also made a short film called Aliens in Johannesburg, which was conceived to be very similar to this movie of yours."
If Lin Mingyang and Peter Jackson's friendship, it can only be regarded as general, is to chat a couple of sentences, the other side so abruptly "plug" a person to him, Lin Mingyang heart inevitably some doubts, "Then where is he?"
"He has already arrived in Johannesburg, if you are interested, I will get him here, for the sake of Peter Jackson's face, even if you don't use him, you can still chat with him."
Lin Ming Yang casually grabbed the calendar, ticked off on it were some important schedules, he chose a day that had no markings drawn on it, "Three days from now, have him come to the set to meet me!"
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Lin Mingyang did not know, Peter Jackson recommended over this Neil Blomkamp in Hollywood is not unknown, his fame does not lie in what has been filmed, but did not make anything. 2006 Peter Jackson supervised the production of the game of the same name adapted the film "Halo" invited him to serve as director, and later this film due to the withdrawal of the two studios is limited to the stop and eventually fizzled out.
Because of this aborted film, Neil's name appeared in the newspaper many times, and it just so happened that Adidas was looking for a suitable director for their viral campaign "Adi Color", they gave Neil an opportunity with a small budget, and then asked him to let go of it. Neil came up with a mini-thriller with futuristic, anti-utopian colors featuring artificial intelligent creatures making waves around the globe. Neil also painted Hebrew-style tattoos on the faces of the semi-robots to create an atmosphere of a non-Western world.
Lin Mingyang wasn't interested in the commercial, but he was intrigued by Neil's other short film, Aliens in Johannesburg, which impressed him with its mix of textured, gritty graphics and seamless CGI imagery.
After watching this short documentary film, which was very similar to District 9 in both form and idea, Lin Mingyang remembered that the District 9 he remembered came from this Neil, which gave him a different understanding of the next meeting.
During the filming of the movie, the crew temporarily rented an office building. This is located in the northern suburbs of the city of Johannesburg, and the filming location of the movie Soweto slums have a very long distance, the reason why the location was chosen here, mainly because of the problem of security and law and order.
South Africa's unemployment rate is as high as 40%, and the majority of the unemployed are unskilled and poorly educated blacks. The deterioration of security has made robberies in Johannesburg a common occurrence, and a climate of racial conflict has been brewing, forcing the middle and upper classes or large capitalized companies representing South Africa to move to the northern suburbs.
During the time they met in John, there were some temporary problems on the side of the filming location that Lin Mingyang had to rush over to deal with. As per his instructions, the crew invited Neil, who was on time for his appointment, to Lin Mingyang's office and asked him to wait for a moment.
When Lin Ming Yang returned, Neil was looking at the pictures of those alien-shaped designs hanging on the wall.
"You're interested in these 'prawns'?"
Neil was so mesmerized by what he was looking at that Lin Ming Yang walking into the office didn't catch his attention, and a voice suddenly came to mind behind him, startling him.
"Prawns?" Neil turned his head to see the owner of the office looking at him with a smile on his face and quickly reacted, "Is that an alien alias?"
"That's what the people in the crew call the aliens I designed." Lin Mingyang explained.
"I don't like that name!" Neil said with a serious expression, "It's like when people call black people 'niggers', I feel that the title 'prawns' carries with it a kind of contempt for the aliens."
It's just a name, Lin Ming Yang didn't expect this Neil guy to be so "serious", he laughed and said, "It's just a nickname people give to aliens, I don't think there's any malicious intent."
"Maybe you really just want to make a sci-fi movie... "Neil shook his head somewhat regretfully, "I originally thought that you were different from other people."
"And the results disappointed you?" Lin Ming Yang poured him a glass of water with interest, "Then how do you think I should come to shoot it?"
Nick's eyes lit up, Lin Mingyang's attitude gave him renewed hope, "Since you chose Johannesburg as the filming location, the content of the movie should be related to the city. Although I don't know exactly what you want to film, I think it's unlikely to film that kind of alien attack on the city bridge, you should have other plans!"
Lin Mingyang nodded, acquiescing to Nick's statement as he made a gesture of listening attentively, signaling the other party to continue.
"I have a good idea..."
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