When Leonardo heard Spielberg's inquiry, he almost subconsciously asked: "Steven, do you have any ideas about remaking this movie??"
Hollywood doesn't pay much attention to Hong Kong movies, and major Hollywood companies pay a little more attention. However, local actors in Hollywood know very little about Hong Kong movies. Leonardo not only had not seen this movie before today, but also had no experience with it. He had heard of it, so he didn't know that the copyright of this movie had been bought by Warner, and he didn't know that the copyright was now in the hands of Li Mu.
Spielberg told him: "The remake rights of this movie were bought by Warner a few months ago, but they have just been bought by Li Mu."
"Li Mu?" Leonardo asked happily: "That means Li Mu is interested in remaking this movie, right?"
"That's right." Spielberg said: "Li Mu is going to co-produce and distribute with DreamWorks, and he hopes that you will star in the role of Chen Yongren."
Speaking of this, Spielberg laughed and said: "Of course, if we remake the movie, the character cannot be named like that. The entire story structure will definitely be transferred to the United States, and it will take place between American gangs and the American police. "
"Great!" Leonardo blurted out with almost no hesitation: "I am willing to play this role, I am so fucking willing! I like this character and this poor guy, just don't let him be in the remake It would be nice to be this pitiful in the version..."
Tom Hanks on the side laughed: "Believe me Leo, if it's a remake, they should give your character a grand funeral at the end, with not only Scottish bagpipes, but also a 21-gun salute!"
Leonardo said excitedly: "Hey, Tom, just imagine adding this character named Jimmy or something, and when he went through all this, he gained the love of a beautiful psychiatrist, but this psychiatrist has always been He was dissatisfied with his status as a gang member and even tried to draw a clear line with him. He accepted it and gradually alienated the female psychiatrist. However, before he was to meet with the dirty police officer, he found the female psychiatrist. The doctor put all his information in an envelope and gave it to the psychiatrist for safekeeping, and then told her to open it if something unexpected happened to her."
Tom Hanks nodded and smiled: "Then he... bang, died."
"Yes!" Leonardo said excitedly: "The character died, but he won his identity, won all the honors, and told his true identity to the woman he loved. Just imagine, this The woman loved him painfully before, but in her eyes, he was nothing more than a charming gangster, or even a heinous criminal. However, after his death, she finally understood everything, the identity of this man, and The great mission he has been engaged in for so many years, which completely overturns all her previous perceptions of him, will be a great comfort to the audience."
Tom Hanks also began to enjoy this kind of plot discussion, so he asked Leonardo: "In this case, what do you think the dirty policeman should do?"
"He must die!" Leonardo said: "Good people can die, bad people must die. Good people will be honored after death, and bad people will be infamous after death. These are the values accepted by the audience. I don't want to play a It’s a movie where a good guy dies, but the bad guy gets away with it, and then he pretends that he wants to be a good guy too.”
Tom Hanks said: "In this case, I think we can design another policeman. This policeman can be Officer Huang's partner. He knows that both Officer Huang and Chen Yongren died at the hands of dirty policemen, but there is no evidence to convict him, or He was not satisfied that he would only be sentenced to life imprisonment in the future, so he decided to punish evil and promote good by himself, and he would kill the dirty policeman. As the end of the whole movie, this can also give the audience a satisfactory explanation."
Spielberg said: "What you two said is very good. I agree with these points, and I have another idea. You can give me some advice."
The two listened attentively. Spielberg paused and said: "In the original version, Liu Jianming had a girlfriend who was a writer, and Chen Yongren had a female psychiatrist who cared about her very much. These two female characters had no intersection, and the two In fact, both characters appear relatively thin overall. If we remake the film, we might as well merge these two female characters into one."
"Fusion into one?" Tom Hanks frowned and asked him: "Steven, you mean, this psychiatrist is both the girlfriend of the dirty cop and the protagonist's psychiatrist, and then fell in love with the protagonist? "
"Yes." Spielberg nodded and said: "The female character is actually very important in this kind of rivalry between two men. This movie should give the audience the feeling that the bad guy seems to have everything, but in fact Unknowingly, he lost everything, including his humanity, his future, and his love. Although a good man has been losing a lot, he completed his mission, won honor, and won the heart of a good woman. In this way, Come, even if you die in the end, you are still a hero and can comfort the audience."
Leonardo suddenly snapped his fingers and said in an epiphany: "That's great, just like Mel Gibson's "Braveheart". Although the protagonist William Wallace was beheaded in the end, he completed His mission to lead the Scottish nation in rebellion won the respect of everyone and the heart of the French princess played by Sophie Marceau."
Tom Hanks said: "According to the plot, the French princess played by Sophie Marceau was originally the daughter-in-law of the British King, but before the British King died, Sophie Marceau told him that she It’s really exciting to be pregnant with the flesh and blood of William Wallace instead of his grandson.”
Spielberg said: "Having the villain's woman fall in love with the protagonist is a very useful plot operation. In this way, the woman's choice can be used to show the real winner among the villains, especially When the villain has almost everything and the protagonist has almost nothing, the audience's feeling will be even stronger. When the audience faces the villain who has everything and the protagonist who has nothing, they will completely subvert their own values, such as in "Braveheart" Sophie Marceau in "", no matter how she packages it, her behavior is standard marital infidelity. What's more terrible is that she is the active party in the affair and is pregnant with another man's child, but in this movie , no one will blame her, but countless people will applaud her behavior, and her behavior will also make the audience appreciate the protagonist even more."
"Haha!" Leonardo laughed: "If you put it that way, the same goes for Titanic. Ruth, played by Kate, is actually a cheating woman, and Jack, played by me, is a poor man who seduces someone else's fiancée. Boy."
"Yeah." Spielberg laughed: "You even won the ticket to board the ship by gambling."
After that, Spielberg put away his smile and said seriously: "Actually, this is the psychology of the audience. They are willing to see the protagonist win everything and the villain lose everything. In this case, even if the villain's wife takes the initiative to cheat on the protagonist, Instead of blaming, the audience will appreciate it, because this will enhance the aura of the protagonist and please the audience at the same time. Therefore, I wanted to merge the two completely unrelated female characters in "Infernal Affairs" into one, and let her strengthen the tension of the plot. , and at the same time, it can also give the audience some comfort.”
Leonardo asked: "How should it be set specifically?"
Spielberg said: "We still need to think carefully about this and sort out the timeline of the female character's acquaintance with the villain, the male protagonist, and the story lines that happened between the three of them."
After a pause, Spielberg looked at Leonardo and asked with a smile: "But, in short, Leo, you are 100% sure that you want to join this movie, right?"
"Oh God." Leonardo said extremely seriously: "Not 100% sure, but 10,000%!"
"OK." Spielberg nodded with satisfaction, then looked at Tom Hanks and said, "Tom, are you interested in the role of Officer Huang?"
"Me?" Tom Hanks was obviously a little surprised. He had never thought that Spielberg would invite him to participate in this movie, because the choice of the male lead was Leonardo, and the other actor was starring opposite him. The second male lead should also be a young man about the same age as Leonardo. He was obviously not suitable, so when he was discussing it, he never thought that he would be involved.
However, Spielberg suddenly asked him if he was interested in the role of Officer Huang, and Tom Hanks was really undecided.
Officer Huang's role is not a big one, and he is not even considered the third male lead, because no matter how you look at it, this character's role is not as important as that of the black boss, so after calculation, this role should be the fourth male lead.
For actors like Tom Hanks, the fourth male lead will basically not be considered. On the one hand, big names themselves do not like to play supporting roles, and on the other hand, the production company will not give them supporting roles. Chances are, these extremely high-value actors are paid astonishingly high salaries. If they are invited to film a movie, they must cast the leading male lead, or at least the second leading male lead. With top actors playing supporting roles, how much will the entire movie cost to be affordable? Come down.
Spielberg also knew that this character was somewhat marginalized, so he tried to persuade Tom Hanks, saying: "Tom, this character may not have too many roles, but it is very important to the entire movie, whether it is I, or Li Mu, highly admire your acting skills, so I also hope you can accept this role. Li Mu also made it clear that you and Leo have already reduced your pay in "Flying Tigers", "Infernal Affairs" said Nothing can make you sacrifice your interests, so they pay you the market price and give you a certain share of the box office."
After saying that, Spielberg added: "But it doesn't matter if you don't want to, I can understand."
Tom Hanks smiled slightly and said happily: "Since Leo made the decision so quickly, I won't think too much about it and will cooperate with Leo one more time!"
(End of chapter)