According to the Oscar faction works of the previous life, Renly selected ten works, but in addition to the unexpected surprise "The Big Short", "Focus" and "The Revenant" are the other two surprises.
"The Revenant" can be described as a famous name, even if Renly wants to ignore it, it is very difficult, because this work helped Leonardo DiCaprio's long-lasting journey of more than ten years to compete for the golden statues. A perfect ending , just like "The Departed" for Martin Scorsese, who finally won his first Golden Man trophy.
From the perspective of project preparation, "The Revenant" is adapted from the novel of the same name. Michael-Punke uses the legendary real-life hunter Hugh-glass as the prototype of the story to complete the entire fiction. The creation of the story Incidentally, Michael Punk is the official ambassador of the United States to the World Trade Organization (wto), and he completed the creation of the novel in his spare time.
Although this is not a personal biography, but a reinterpretation of a story based on folklore, it can also be called a personal epic, and it presents the most primitive and crude personal battle, which can be regarded as a type that academics like; but Surprisingly, this work has never been favored, mainly because it is too difficult to shoot, and the style and connotation presented have too many uncertainties, which makes the project always shelved.
The novel was published in 2001. At that time, the copyright was bought by the producer Akiva Goldsman, but after going around for many years, he still could not find a suitable production company and production team. Even Ajwa himself gave up and sold the copyright. In more than ten years, the copyright has changed hands several times, the director has also changed hands several times, and even the male lead has been changed several times, but it still cannot be formed.
Until the second half of last year, Alejandro Gonzalez Inaritu had just finished the shooting of "Birdman", saw the potential of the project, and officially took over; but Alejandro also There is no difficulty that can change the progress of the project. In the past few months, the leading actor and supporting actor have changed hands several times. The arduous filming work has caused many actors to shy away.
Because Alejandro wanted the entire film to be shot in natural light, which meant that the actors needed to spend half a year in the snow and ice; at the same time, Alejandro wanted to present a natural sense of realism as much as possible, and make-up factors It will be weakened to the minimum, which also means that the actors must be around forty years old, which poses a new problem for the ability of middle-aged actors to challenge the bitter cold.
To make matters worse, New Regent Pictures, which now owns the copyright of the adaptation of the original novel, has encountered a capital chain dilemma. The box office fiasco of "Time Planning Bureau" and "Reversal Ace" have put their capital turnover in a dilemma, so that all the projects currently in their hands are suspended, "The Revenant" is only one of them, and "Assassin's Creed" is also temporarily suspended .
reason
Or Alessandro. Because of insisting on using natural light to complete the shooting, this means that the entire shooting cycle is lengthened, all shooting is more difficult, and all expenditures from equipment to staff have increased exponentially. Now the shooting budget has exceeded 100 million US dollars, and Still can't stop the car.
New Regent Pictures is also a headache.
Although before the Golden Globes, Alejandro persuaded Leonardo to join "The Revenant", and Leonardo persuaded Tom Hardy to join the film; but... They still can't convince Wall Street money injection no one It is impossible to invest 100 million US dollars for an Oscar-related work, even for the best picture Oscar winner. It should be the first to win the box office and then the award. This is the order of consideration for Wall Street investment.
As a result, New Regent Pictures had to start asking for help. This is a project that Andre got through personal friendship, not news from the agency.
In Andre's exact words, "I think they're crazy. But I'm not an expert, and it's not my turn to judge; maybe you can see potential that I don't see."
"Focus" is another case, this is a biography, this is a work of justice, this is a work that reflects the dark reality of society, this should be the work of a typical academic department; but there is no production company Dare to take over, because this is a hot potato or even a hot durian. Even if you get rid of it, it is probably still fishy.
The film tells the story of a column in the Boston Globe, called Focus, which is dedicated to focusing on special cases and social in-depth reports. They began to report a long-hidden case, a Catholic priest/sex/harassment/harassment of children in the parish. It was just a small task at first, but after getting involved, they discovered a huge and terrifying inside story, which fully involved the Hundreds of victims, and the church has privately compensated these victims and sent people to cover up the crime.
"The Guard is Here"
As the investigation deepened, they discovered that this conspiracy was even more terrifying, not only in Boston, but all over the world; not only church personnel, but also local officials, financial groups, underworld and other forces, all of whom colluded. Together, bury the whole incident for your own good.
Before understanding this case and this film, it is necessary to understand the specificity of the Boston area.
The history can be traced back to the earliest history of European pioneering or the invasion of North America. New York and Boston are the main port locations, but there are still slight differences between the two regions. To go to the New England area where Boston is located, it is mainly to escape religious persecution. British Protestants; those who stayed in New York were more diverse, including speculators, blue-collar workers, low-level people, and so on.
It is precisely because of this difference that the development of New England has gradually become more rapid. In the mid-twentieth century, they transferred most of their traditional industries to other states in the United States or overseas with lower labor costs, while Boston-centered High-tech areas are emerging, including biotechnology, education, finance, services, pharmaceuticals, and more.
Slowly, it has become the richest and most high-end area in the United States. Yale University, Harvard University, MIT University, etc. are all located in this area; law, economy, politics/politics, finance, etc. are also Travel in this area has a unique lead.
Naturally, people living in this area are actively or passively distinguishing themselves from other areas, and distinct hierarchies of class begin to permeate every corner of society:
From economics to politics, from education to law, from journalism to gangs, from language to culture, all of these, this area seems to be a separate area from the United States, they have their own pride and dignity, Refuses to be compared with other states.
When people mention the North American continent, the West Coast headed by Los Angeles and the East Coast headed by New York are tit for tat due to geographical and historical reasons; but among them, the New England region headed by Boston stands out of the way. They even looked down on New York, showing a kind of solitary arrogance.
It can be said that the New England region is self-contained!
The Boston gang in Hollywood has always been a unique existence, and Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and others are the core figures of the entire faction.
It is precisely because of this that in the story of "Focus", Boston can form an iron bucket, preventing the column reporting team from revealing the truth in all aspects; and in the real world, the film "Focus" obviously has the characteristics of academic school. , but still can't find a film company willing to take over
Everyone is afraid to open the scars of Massachusetts again. If you are not careful, you may lose your wife and lose your army.
Tom McCarthy is an actor. He entered the industry in 1997 and has been in small roles for many years. In 2003, he first tried screenwriting and was in charge of the director. He was highly praised and won the Audience Choice Award and the Special Jury Award, which officially changed his career, and the transformation was successful. He was even officially invited by the government to participate in projects beyond cultural exchanges and went to the Middle East to promote The development of different cultural projects.
Then in 2007, he wrote and directed "The Uninvited Guest" again, and successfully won the first Oscar nomination for Best Actor for the actor Richard Jenkins (richard-jenkins). After that, Tom wrote scripts for "Flying House" and "Million Dollar Arms" successively, and his career gradually stabilized.
"Focus" is Tom's latest project. From collecting data in the early stage, to in-depth discussion of each prototype of the reporting group, to researching all the reporting materials and the ins and outs of the year, he spent nearly a year before and after, overturning the data This is the final draft.
But now, he can't find a production company that dares to invest, not to mention the production process. Even if it is successfully released, the film's academy public relations will inevitably struggle, and it is hard to imagine how serious obstacles will be encountered. No one wants to take risks.
The award season trend of the later works also proved this. Although "Focus" won the Oscar for Best Picture, there was only one Best Original Screenplay trophy. It was one of the weakest best pictures in the decade. .
Refraction from the film to reality, from the cases told in the film to the difficulties of the film project in reality, this is the most ironic thing.
In any case, the three projects of "The Big Short", "The Revenant", and "Focus" finally came to Renly.
Andy noticed that there was a special five-pointed star symbol behind the "Focus" project, which was not found in other projects. He couldn't help but raised his head and looked at Renly, "Pentagram, what does this mean?"
Andre was also slightly stunned. The memories of the previous high school years were indeed a little blurry now. He turned his head and cast his eyes towards Matthew for help.
"Absolute caution," Matthew said.
Renly nodded affirmatively, but he didn't explain why.
Because of his background in journalism, he is always very tolerant and particularly partial to news-themed movies. This is a personal orientation, and there is no special reason.