Chapter 235 - Unspeakable Secret

After meeting with Chen Zixuan, the filming of the movie "Connecting to the Future" was officially on MGM's agenda. The script was available, but the director hadn't been selected yet, which gave Eckles a headache.

Lin Mingyang, who was once pinned "high hopes" on by Eckles, not only did not have a problem with the main character of the movie, but even when Eckles proposed him to be the director of the movie, he shook his head repeatedly.

Now Eckles was at his wit's end, he crossed his arms and asked Lin Mingyang in front of him, "Since even you think the script is well written, you won't take the lead role even if it's okay, why do you even refuse to direct?"

Lin Ming Yang replied with full of concern, "I'm very busy these days!"

Ecks waved his hand impatiently, "Don't talk to me about those useless things!"

Lin Ming Yang shrugged helplessly, "Well, 'New Sherlock Holmes' is about to start filming, do you think I'll have time to do anything else at this time?"

Ecks remained unmoved, "That's not the answer I want."

Forced into a corner, Lin Ming Yang had to pull out his final killer tactic, "I've never been a director who only shoots scripts I've written, is that a good enough reason?"

Ecks stared at Lin Ming Yang for half a day before he sighed helplessly. He admitted that Lin Ming Yang was telling the truth, but in his heart, he was still a bit reluctant: "You're not willing to do it, who do you want me to go to at this time?"

"Christopher Nolan, huh?" Without thinking, Lin Ming Yang blurted out, "Aren't you and him good friends? Counting the time, I reckon 'The Dark Knight' is about to be released, Nolan should have the time to be the director of this movie, and we sold him a favor in that movie, if we don't use it at this time, it'll be null and void after the expiration date!"

Ecks slapped his head, how could he have forgotten about that person? Just as he was remorseful, Lin Ming Yang reminded again, "To ask Christopher Nolan to be the director of this movie, you must do it fast, you must rush to talk to him before The Dark Knight is released."

Ecks listened in confusion, "Why?"

"Because after 'The Dark Knight' is released, Christopher Nolan will become the new money tree in the eyes of Hollywood movie investors, and at that time, there will be a large number of people who will be holding onto their money to hire him to be a director...I'm not doubting the friendship between you and him, but friendship tends to be the most unreliable thing again at some times, so we'd better make the first move."

Christopher Nolan's directing talent is undoubted, but his age is there, compared to those famous directors, his "seniority" is still a little bit insufficient. Lin Mingyang's "sudden" favorable opinion of Nolan made Eckles feel a little strange.

In Hollywood, you can become an actor at a young age, and even become a big star. But it's really difficult to become a director at a young age. After all, it was a very complicated profession that required a wealth of knowledge, more life experience, and the ability to deal with all sorts of emergencies. Even Lin Mingyang's "special existence" has not fundamentally changed this situation. Although he was recognized by the Oscar for best director, in the minds of the audience, he still can't be compared to those first-tier directors.

Today's movie world is still largely dominated by directors born in the 30s and 40s, like Godard, Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese. After years of hard work, they have established themselves and are admired by many movie fans. The directors of the fifties and sixties, on the other hand, are the main force in today's movie industry, like James Cameron, like Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, in their forties and fifties, rich in experience, and physically healthy, are in the right age for directing. As a director after 70, Christopher Nolan has been counted as a very young figure in the director team, but still can only be ranked in the third echelon.

"I know that if you really go to Christopher Nolan, these words I said today will definitely reach his ears...when you go, you might as well tell him that The Dark Knight can gross more than a billion dollars, this is what I said, believe it or not!"

By saying this, Lin Ming Yang actually wanted to make a bet with Christopher Nolan through Eckles, if he won, the other party shouldn't have any more reasons to refuse to be the director of Connecting to the Future.

The story of Connecting to the Future did make Lin Mingyang's heart itch a little, but in the end he was still prepared to give the opportunity to Christopher Nolan. Because Lin Ming Yang always felt that Christopher Nolan was the most suitable director for this movie.

As early as when reading the script Lin Ming Yang had this idea. To describe the plot of "Connecting to the Future" as complex and ambiguous is not an exaggeration, to control the pace and ultimately push the story to the end is a very challenging task, but this is exactly what Christopher Nolan is best at. Insomnia" and "Fragments of Memory" are both multi-threaded, multi-layered complex narrative structure to complete the story, in the fact that the narrative clear at the same time can make the film both entertainment, even Lin Mingyang also had to admit that Nolan is indeed an expert in this area.

Of course, Lin Mingyang "fancy" Christopher Nolan is not only because his style is suitable for this movie, the more important reason is that Lin Mingyang wants to plot Christopher Nolan is brewing a masterpiece.

At a very young age Nolan discovered that he had a lot of strange thoughts, in the middle of the night he would always wake up naturally, and then he would go into a light sleep, in that state he often decided that he was dreaming. After that, more strange feelings would follow, and the stories inside his dreams he was able to break them apart with his memories. According to Lin Mingyang's memory, Christopher Nolan's film was inspired by this. And the things that he wanted to express in the movie started to think about it over and over again as early as when he was sixteen years old, and the first draft of the movie script should have been completed by this time, only that Christopher Nolan's ideas should not have been fully matured yet, so he didn't bring this script out now.

Although Eckles and Christopher Nolan had a close personal relationship, Lin Mingyang still felt the need to get close to Christopher Nolan first, if both sides could have a pleasant cooperation as a foundation, then the next cooperation would be a done deal.

----

Christopher Nolan did not agree with Eckles right from the start, but he was very interested in Lin Mingyang's "bet", and he did not say no, but only said that he would wait until the release of "The Dark Knight" before he could give Eckles an answer.

Summer is always the hottest time of the year for movies, and this year is no exception, from Spider-Man to Iron Man, a succession of heavy blockbusters continue to bombard people's minds. August 16, at the peak of the battle, Christopher Nolan will join hands with Warner Bros. to present the much-anticipated "The Dark Knight," and due to the bizarre title and the first-class secrecy that Warner maintains over the script, the entire film has been a big hit with the public. The Dark Knight, due to its bizarre title and Warner's first-class secrecy about the script, has been shrouded in Hollywood mystery amidst much speculation.

The addition of Batman, so that this year's summer stalls completely become a superhero movie "gladiator", as a basically no use of computer stunts superhero movie, in the "New Spider-Man Ⅱ" and "Iron Man" in front of such visual effects blockbusters really seems to be very stressful.

Producers pinched a sweat in their hands, but director Christopher Nolan is very calm, I do not know whether it is Lin Mingyang's "prophecy" gave him the bottom of the air, or out of his confidence in his own work, before the release of the film, he is the most calm in front of the media a person.

Perhaps after enjoying the feast of visual effects during the summer movie season, the aesthetically fatigued audience desperately needed a change of taste, and The Dark Knight appeared to meet the audience's needs, and the movie finally delivered a very satisfactory answer to all parties.

The Dark Knight has been in theaters worldwide for a month and has already grossed over a billion dollars. Christopher Nolan instantly became the object of hot pursuit by investors, and the Hollywood movie critics also called him a wunderkind, and all kinds of halos were put on his head at one time. Some people said that he was the contemporary Hitchcock, because they were both suspense masters from England; some people compared him to Kubrick, because their works have transcended the movie itself, penetrating the exploration of the ultimate meaning... Christopher Nolan finally realized the significance of high box office for a director, and he was now called the most king by the media! He has now been called by the media as the most talented director with the most kingly temperament. Without the guarantee of box office, this is all empty talk.

The critics focused their attention on Christopher Nolan, while the audience enjoyed Lin Mingyang's "amazing" performance in the movie. The character of the Joker was so impressive that Lin Mingyang was recognized by the sharp-eyed audience in his first appearance.

Because the role of the clown and Lin Mingyang's previous movie roles contrast so much, so that at first everyone saw him appearing when some brains are not enough, but soon Lin Mingyang with his own magnificent acting skills to conquer everyone. In this movie, the audience did not see Lin Mingyang's good action performance, but instead, the clown character showed a high level of intelligence that made everyone clap their hands in admiration.

Even the media reviews, which have never dealt well with Lin Ming Yang, praised his performance in The Dark Knight, and some even felt that Lin Ming Yang could have won another Oscar for his role as the Joker.

Of course, the happiest person is still Eckles, because Lin Mingyang's "prophecy" came true, Christopher Nolan very quickly agreed to MGM's invitation. The Dark Knight has made the world go crazy for Christopher Nolan, and the news that he is taking on a new movie has naturally attracted a lot of attention.

For a while, reports and news about the movie "Connecting to the Future" occupied a large part of the entertainment press, and MGM's publicity even made the movie famous even before it started shooting.

----

The next step in the process was to decide on a director for the movie, and then to decide on a lead actor. The movie was produced by Eckles, and basically had nothing to do with Lin Ming Yang in terms of filming, but Eckles and Christopher Nolan still asked Lin Ming Yang out when discussing the choice of lead actor.

Eckles was thinking from the company's point of view, after all, Lin Mingyang is the chairman of the board of directors of MGM, even though he usually doesn't care much, but if you can pull him in for something like this, you can't let him be idle. As for Christopher Nolan, he was thinking more for the sake of the movie, and he also wanted to listen to the opinion of Lin Mingyang, an authority.

Christopher Nolan mentioned a few candidates one after another, but Eckles didn't feel very satisfied with any of them, in his opinion none of these actors were big enough and had limited box office appeal. While the two of them were discussing, Lin Ming Yang had been keeping an eye on Nolan's expression, in addition to listening carefully to their opinions.

He noticed that Christopher Nolan's preferred actors were all British actors. Although Christopher Nolan possessed both American and British internationality, and his youth could be divided into two stages, Chicago and London, but judging from his consistently unsmiling demeanor, the Thames River's nourishment for him should be far stronger than the power of Lake Michigan.

It is not difficult to explain why Christopher Nolan would be attracted to British actors, which Lin Mingyang can understand, but from the standpoint of Eckles, he is more concerned about the commercial returns of this movie, and for this kind of movie that wins with the plot, the role of big-name stars becomes especially important.

Although the two men were close personal friends, they disagreed on this issue and did not give an inch. The two argued, and finally looked to Lin Mingyang, who was watching from the side.

Lin Mingyang is holding up the coffee cup ready to put to his mouth by the eyes of the two people, the action of the hand could not help but pause. This coffee could not be drunk, but he was not ready to open his mouth until he was somewhat embarrassed by the two people looking at him, and only then did he dryly cough twice: "In fact, I think that each of your insistence is justified..."

This obviously conciliatory beginning caused both Ecks and Christopher Nolan to be dissatisfied, and noticing that the two were not looking good, Lin Ming Yang smiled heatedly, "I do have a compromise candidate..."

Before he could finish his flower, Ecks and Nolan asked in unison, "Who?"

"Leonardo DiCaprio!"

Ecks and Nolan looked at each other, and neither of them said anything.

Lin Mingyang looked at Nolan: "First of all I know that Leonardo is not a British actor though, he was born in the US but of European descent. In Hollywood he is one of the few movie stars who can be very popular with the audience even in the UK."

Then he turned his attention to Eckles, "And he should also fit the company's requirements for a big name movie star."

"Most importantly..." Lin Ming Yang paused, "Leonardo is one of the few smart people in Hollywood!"

"Leonardo is indeed a good candidate, but I've heard that he's very demanding about the script!" Nolan's concern was right in the center of Ecks' mind, and he nodded in conformity.

Leonardo was one of the countless few Hollywood movie stars who knew how to make good use of their resources. He made a number of famous movies in the 90s, but it was Titanic that really skyrocketed him to stardom. After that movie, he could have done a bunch of movies and been a superhero many times over. But his dedication to the quality of his films puts his peers to shame.

Of course, it took Leonardo a few years to realize that he had assets, largely because of the aftermath of Titanic. Prior to Titanic, Leonardo held the balance between two identities: that of a teen-magazine cover hunk and that of a critics' darling. But after that big ship went silent, the balance between actor and icon followed suit.

To this day, Leonardo still regrets that he took on Titanic because it made him an international star, yet it was also because of this movie that for a while he couldn't do what he wanted to do or play the roles he wanted to play. Leonardo wished that he could be as powerful as Jack ? Nicholson's powerhouse, rather than a face-driven idol, but the fame of Titanic imprisoned his dreams for a time.

Leonardo does not want his strength because of his appearance and always unrecognized, so "Titanic" after he refused a large number of can act as a young girl's heart of the role of big heroes, and took over the small cost production of the literary film "the beach", in this way, in the experience of a short period of low, Leonardo finally got the recognition of the public, the success of the transition from the idol of small boy for the strength of the superstar.

Now Leonardo has finally learned after many lessons: no matter how slight his complaints about fame are, they will be interpreted as capricious. He no longer talks about his private life and has learned to hide his face from the paparazzi when they approach and not let them get anything. This has made him a very uninteresting celebrity, a very cautious person, and an almost insanely focused movie star.

Nolan's further analysis says, "I've heard that there's a huge stack of Hollywood's choicest scripts waiting on Leonardo's doorstep for him to go through, most of which he sees before any other first-tier actor under forty. He's the go-to guy for Hollywood directors making movies these days, and I don't think he necessarily has the time to work with us and with us right now."

Echolls then added, "The key thing is that he has a very low regard for money, so if our scripts don't give him the feeling that he wants to make a movie, it's probably not going to work out. He'll fail to negotiate a deal because of the script, who's financing the movie, who's behind it, but rarely because of the money. I think he's more 'willful' than you are when it comes to accepting a movie!"

Lin Ming Yang shrugged, "I admit that he's a bit picky like me when it comes to this issue of picking up a movie, and it's precisely because I'm a bit similar to him that I don't think he'll turn it down, it's just a hunch but I think it's worth giving it a try!"