Chapter 297: 2012, it's not just a prophecy

If today's Hollywood who is most enthusiastic about the subject of disaster, Roland Emmerich's name is bound to be the first, this once directed "Independence Day", "the day after tomorrow" and other disaster blockbusters, the director, traditionally works to destroy human civilization as a pleasure, this time his new film chose the end of the world as a gimmick, obviously prepared for the homework. Unfortunately, he planted his head so far up his ass on 10,000 Years Before History that by the time the script was delivered to the heads of the major studios, the highly sought-after scenery of the past was no longer there.

In addition to the fear of Emmerich again "play out of order" in addition to the film's initial shooting budget also let the major studios deterred, the shadow of the economic crisis has not yet dissipated, the big studios in the operation of the operation is still a little bit difficult, many of the strength of the small independent production company is more and more difficult days. Emmerich waiting for the echo of the results like a stone sinking into the sea in general let a person despair, willing to pay for the big companies want him to reduce the budget, and in the shooting of a number of requirements, and those who can meet all his requirements of the small production company is unable to support the film's huge budget.

Just when Emmerich was in a dilemma, Sony Pictures, which had not given him an answer, suddenly called and said they were willing to invest in the movie. Emmerich, who was overjoyed, was confused by the other party's strange demands before he had a chance to be happy.

Sony is ready to join forces with MGM to shoot the movie, this point did not let Emmerich feel too much surprise, but Sony obviously in the investment accounted for a large part of the matter, but the relevant shooting matters is the MGM side of the decision. The person in charge of Sony Pictures politely told Emmerich that the movie shoot or not, in the end, or to see the attitude of MGM.

Although there are such and such doubts in his mind, but this is a "lifesaving straw" Emmerich can only firmly grasp, he left the contact information in accordance with the other party dialed the phone of the person in charge of the MGM company. What Emmerich did not expect is that the president of MGM Studios, Eckles actually proposed to interview their own requirements. After making an appointment to meet at the other party's office, Emmerich, who hung up the phone, finally had a hint of hidden expectations in his heart, and the fact that the president of the punch himself had come out was a clear indication of the importance that MGM attached to this matter.

But in fact, Emmerich still "underestimate" himself, said Eckles and his interview, into the office of the president of the MGM company, but sitting inside the person but let Emmerich ate a shock.

Lin Mingyang pestle hand, a smile at some overwhelmed Emmerich, although this "guest" is purely temporary, but it does play a good effect, at least now appear in the Emmerich face expression is very rich.

He did not stand up to greet, just to Emmerich gently nodded, Qi nodded in greeting, and then pointed to the chair across the desk, asking Emmerich to sit down.

"There's been a bit of an emergency in the company, and our Mr. President was busy just going over to deal with it, so I had to meet with you in my place today... Although the day-to-day affairs of the company have always been handled by Ecks, I'm very interested in some of the things covered in this movie, so then the opportunity arose, and I'd like to ask Mr. Roland a few more questions "

Lin Mingyang gently tapped the script on the desk with his fingers, Emmerich's expression was complete, he knew that the real "test" had begun. In the face of Lin Mingyang, Emmerich was not so stupid as to treat the other party as a 25 year old young man, so even though he himself was much older than Lin Mingyang, he still spoke in a respectful tone.

"When I first heard that Mr. Eckles wanted to meet with me to discuss this film I felt a bit incredulous, in your place it should be an honor!"

Lin Ming Yang's eyes gleamed as he looked at Emmerich with interest, "I'm curious to know, what was your initial reason for wanting to make this movie?"

"For so many years I've been shooting mainly disaster movies, and many people have told me that they love movies like The Day After Tomorrow, and when I asked them why, they told me that it's an incredible shock to see familiar cities destroyed on the screen. With this in mind, I began to think about the subject of the end of the world in 2012. In fact, when I was shooting Independence Day, I still had the idea of making a movie about the end of the world in 1999, but unfortunately I couldn't make it in time, so in 2006 I began to conceive the story of 2012, and this time I wanted to make the movie before the destruction of the earth."

Putting aside his initial caution, Lin Mingyang's expression of serious listening made Emmerich's thoughts gradually open up, and he even had a joking mind when it came to the end.

The corners of Lin Ming Yang's mouth curled up slightly, and after smiling, he immediately asked what seemed to be a somewhat irrelevant question.

"Mr. Roland is so fond of disaster movie romances, is it true that he hopes to see the world destroyed with his own eyes one day?"

"No no!" Emmerich waved his hand hilariously, "I'm not a terrorist, I like this genre only because disaster movie is a kind of movie with a strong conflict, the audience may discard a lot of elements that need to be carefully thought out when watching this kind of movie, it's a kind of very extreme confrontation, it's about the survival of life, it's a kind of competition between you and me, with a huge difference in power, people It's easy to be attracted to movies with this kind of theme. For me, I like to depict the city being virtually robbed, that will wake everyone up. 2012 is not about language, it's about the possibility that the Earth will come to an end in 2012, and if that's true, where will human civilization go and what will the inhabitants of the Earth do? The movie will focus to show all these things."

"If I remember correctly, in your previous disaster movies, the focus fell on New York, why the sudden switch to Los Angeles this time?"

Lin Ming Yang's question caused Emmerich to faintly stare before responding, he hemmed and hawed, "After making The Day After Tomorrow, I've been hearing my friends around me complaining, they feel that as the hometown of Hollywood, it's Los Angeles that should be the first to be destroyed in the movie!"

According to Emmerich's conception, the big earthquake that Los Angeles people have been worrying about for a long time is finally realized in "2012", for local fans in Los Angeles, it will be a preview of death experienced in advance, and it will never be merciful, and it will be a magnitude 10 or more if it is to be shaken. Emmerich attaches great importance to geographical characteristics, in his view, each place to experience the "destruction" has its own characteristics.

Los Angeles is the biggest characteristic of the car, so the film Emmerich intends to let a variety of cars, trucks, trains from any angle of the camera screen from the people in front of the "fly", and the end must be miserable. Accordingly, parking lots and freeways are subjected to varying degrees of torture. Downtown Los Angeles is split in half, the towers collapse, and the whole thing slides into the sea.

The destruction of buildings such as the White House, the Statue of Liberty, and the Eiffel Tower are commonplace in disaster movies. Emmerich, in an apparent attempt to break this aesthetic fatigue in "2012," changes the traditional form of destruction. The movie targets three iconic landmarks from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, from the statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro, the Vatican Church to the Himalayas, and the destruction of these scenes appears to be unusually shocking in Emmerich's depiction.

Although Lin Mingyang had in fact already "seen" the movie "2012", he had to admit that Emmerich had already utilized his imagination to the extreme when he heard these ideas from the director's mouth before the film was even shot. Whereas disasters are traditionally presented in isolation, 2012 is a breakthrough in this regard. In the script, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, meteorite rain and other forms of disaster are presented, which can be said to be the most comprehensive collection of disasters in history.

"To realize these ideas in the film, the budget you mentioned in the shooting plan is obviously not enough!"

Emmerich was speaking on the spur of the moment, and a light query from Lin Ming Yang's side immediately made him so embarrassed that he was somewhat speechless. In order to get the investment from the movie company, he had to do a little "shrinkage" on the budget, but despite this, the sky-high shooting budget of 150 million dollars still makes people a little breathless. Lin Mingyang said, just point to Emmerich's pain.

Seeing his face, Lin Mingyang then smiled and said: "You just mentioned these ideas to be realized in the film, the entire filming and production costs at least 200 million U.S. dollars, and if you want to shoot into a 3D movie, the entire investment will be even greater!

The inscrutable expression on his face as he spoke made Emmerich a little puzzled, "What do you mean..."

Lin Ming Yang gave Emmerich a solemn look, "Whether it's MGM or Sony Pictures, we're not short of money in our hands right now... I just want to know, if we come up with enough investment, will it be possible to be 100% in the kind of post-apocalyptic effect you described in the movie?"

Emmerich clearly felt his heart thumping faster, he had already heard what Lin Mingyang meant. 200 million dollars of shooting budget he had not even dared to think about before, but when he said this figure Lin Mingyang's expression was so glib. Emmerich knew clearly that this was a rare opportunity for him, and he was so excited that even his hands under the table were trembling slightly.

At this time sitting across from him Lin Mingyang heart is very calm, he clearly knows that "2012" belongs to the kind of love to see disaster movies will like, do not treat disaster movies will continue to do not treat the movie, because it is extremely consistent with the previous model of all American disaster movies, the visual spectacle, thrilling, human nature to explore and heroism are all complete, did not add any elements to make it upgraded.

The difference is that the visual effects of the movie can be better and more powerful than before. It's as if people have eaten a burger with a patty, but 2012 gives the audience more patties, so the temptation is greater and the calories are higher. There is only one way to make a movie like this commercially successful, and that is to cover up the shortcomings of the plot with powerful visual effects. After all, movies are only a one-time consumer product for the vast majority of the audience, and the king of high box office is to have a good time watching them.

The special effects of the movie are completely "burned" with money, the movie wants to achieve good box office results, the amount of investment is the decisive factor.