I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 457 The Martian!
The Martian!
This movie is very famous in Chen Jin's system.

After arriving in North America, Chen Jin would check news about Hollywood blockbusters whenever he had free time, and he actually found a few that he could snag.

"The Martian" is a very suitable one.

This was originally a bestselling novel in North America.

According to the original timeline, the film and television rights were acquired by Random House in March 2013 for a six-figure sum.

However, just four days later, 20th Century Fox quickly acquired the film adaptation rights to the book!

Thus, a classic science fiction film was brought to the big screen.

The current time is only 2012, which means that Chen Jin could have used his team to buy the film and television rights to this novel and then manage the production himself.

Whether he directs it or hires Guo Fan, it's fine.

Sure enough, after hearing Chen Jin's question, Paula Vagola replied, "Yes, I've already asked Joel, and we should have the results soon!"

The novel "The Martian" has already gained some fame.

Chen Jin had done her research online.

The author of this novel is Andy Weir, a relatively unknown American writer, because... he is not very famous yet.

Compared to his other identity, publishing serials on his personal website is just a hobby to pass the time; this guy's main job is a programmer, he graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in computer science, and is now an employee of Blizzard.

Yes, it's Blizzard Entertainment, the company that developed World of Warcraft and Warcraft III.

In the past few years, this company was known for producing high-quality products, as Blizzard's products were always top-notch.

Since starting college, Andy Weir has enjoyed writing stories based on his imagination, in addition to writing some computer programs. He even created a personal website for this purpose.

This website is incredibly user-friendly; it's ad-free, completely free, and designed specifically to satisfy his personal creative desires.

"The Martian" was the novel that truly made him a breakout star on the website.

After 20 years of writing going unnoticed, "Mars" suddenly became a hot topic with calls for more.

Three years ago, Andy started serializing "Mars". Unexpectedly, his personal website attracted more and more readers and a lot of attention.

Because the website serialization was cumbersome due to page turning, and at the strong request of readers, the author converted the online version to Ebook format for download, which is still a conscientious move.

However, some people still emailed the author, hoping for a more convenient reading experience.

Finally, this year, just last month, Amazon released a Kindle digital edition of The Martian, with pre-orders available for only $0.99.

Priced at less than $1, it garnered numerous positive reviews and even climbed to the top of Amazon's bestseller list.

Currently, it hasn't made it onto the charts yet, but there's still a growing trend of people buying it.

It was only at the beginning of next year that it reached the top of the charts, which attracted the interest of publishers and led to the purchase of various copyrights.

Therefore, Chen Jin's timing in intercepting the deal was the perfect opportunity.

Andy Weir is indeed a remarkable man. While writing "The Martian," he taught himself orbital dynamics, botany, the history of spaceflight, and an overview of Mars. He jokingly calls himself a bookworm who loves learning new things but is very bad at socializing.

In short, he's an "i" person, and very socially awkward.

This created excellent conditions for Chen Jin to purchase the film rights.

As everyone knows, this kind of person is both the easiest and the most difficult to deal with. If you can satisfy one of his inner needs, he will sell the copyright very readily; however, if he doesn't like you, then sorry, it may not be possible to buy it even for tens of millions.

This is why, in the original timeline, Random House only spent $10 to acquire the rights to adapt this novel into a film or television series.

The film, starring Matt Damon, ultimately grossed $6.3 million worldwide, a huge success and a massive financial windfall.

Not only that, but it also garnered a lot of critical acclaim and awards.

It has a high rating of 8.5 on Douban, three Golden Globe nominations, and seven Oscar nominations, including Best Actor!

It was because Chen Jin saw these things that she felt this hijacking might be more worthwhile for her than the previous "Love is Not Blind".

He even wanted to try directing himself.

Unfortunately, while his directing skills are fine, he might need to work with Guo Fan to work on special effects and other aspects.

Ultimately, Chen Jin could simply copy the original system's design for ordinary action films, hiring a martial arts choreographer to design the action sequences and a special effects team if necessary. But he was still unsure about science fiction films and movies with strong special effects.

But with Guo Fan included... this problem isn't so big anymore.

After all, this guy is good at post-production.

Chen Jin felt that there was nothing wrong with filming these.

"I really need to take some time to read this novel and see how difficult it will be to adapt it into a film!"

Chen Jin's lack of confidence stemmed from his belief that science fiction was very difficult.

This is actually a common perception.

In fact, the filming of "The Martian" was very simple, and the plot mainly revolved around the protagonist.

Special effects are indeed key to this movie.

But acting skills are also very important.

After hanging up the phone with Paula, Chen Jin threw herself back into filming "Hong Kong Trip".

***
And the other side.

Joel Rubin, the external relations manager for Chen Jin's team, finally received an email reply from Andy Weir, the author of "The Martian".

This guy is so socially awkward that he didn't even leave a personal phone number on his website, so I could only find him by email.

Joel Rubin worked at UTA for three years, before becoming a brand maintainer at CAA. He is very good at dealing with people.

The emails he exchanged with Andy were about whether he was interested in making the novel into a movie.

Andy's reply was wary: "Who are you?"

“UTA’s agent, my employer, is very interested in this novel and wants to turn it into a movie. He owns a film company and has partnerships with all six major Hollywood studios…”

Joel replied quickly.

Andy remained silent for a while. Joel assumed the other party didn't want to sell and didn't think much of it, just about to go deal with other matters.

Andy's email came again.

"First, I'd like to confirm your employer's identity, and also, what's the name of the film company?"

Andy Weir is indeed a very rational person.

Generally speaking, email writers are usually interested when they hear about the Hollywood Big Six; those who are short of money will call to schedule a time to have a good chat.

But Andy didn't do that. Although he cherished his work and wanted to make it into a movie, which might improve his messed-up life, he didn't.

He's been feeling increasingly uneasy lately at Blizzard Entertainment, as if the environment he used to work with has changed.

As his books sold better and better on Amazon, he began to consider becoming a full-time writer, or perhaps that's a good idea.

"Oh, my employer is Chinese!"

"The company is called Film Science, and it's the largest film and television company in China. They just reached a cooperation agreement with Universal for the action film 'Hitman 2.' Have you seen the movie 'Hitman: Dragon'?"

"It's still showing in theaters and has already grossed $7214 million in North America!"

Joel sent Chen Jin and the information about the electrical engineering department all at once. At this point, introducing himself was actually the best approach.

Chen Jin wasn't that famous, and she was Chinese—two factors that would be very fatal in the eyes of many white people!

Sure enough, Andy frowned when he saw the email Joel sent.

He doesn't have a problem with Chinese people.

After all, his novel "The Martian" contains a lot of information about the China Space Agency. Every time he looked at the data about this country, which was gradually developing its space program, he felt its strength.

In the future, space may belong to China and the United States.

This is the insight of a programmer who is good at researching information on their own, rather than someone trapped in an information cocoon.

What he didn't understand was why a Chinese person would buy the film and television rights to his novel?

Want to adapt it into a movie?

He definitely didn't read the novel. The protagonist of "The Martian" is an American astronaut named Mark Watney.

A Chinese film company making North American films?
This seemed very impractical to Andy.

That leaves only one possibility: he buys the copyright and intends to resell it to one of the six major publishers to make a profit from the price difference.

This is a very likely thing.

After all, the other party is very familiar with the Big Six, and Joel also mentioned that they had just collaborated with Universal on a film.

Seeing that the author of "The Martian" hadn't replied for a long time, Joel was also puzzled: "Hello, are you still there? I forgot to add that my employer is a famous actor, very well-known in North America!"

"Excuse me, if he's really interested, I'd prefer he talk to me in person, okay?"

Ultimately, Andy neither directly refused nor expressed any intention to sell the copyright.

He wanted to know the other party's purpose in buying the copyright to his novel.

"Okay, I will tell him about this as it is!"

"good night!"

Joel shrugged. He'd dealt with a lot of people in his life, so he knew exactly what Andy was thinking.

Ultimately, it's because they don't trust Chen Jin.

"Oh, right!"

Looking at the email that had already been sent, Joel realized it was too late to retract it, so he quickly sent another one: "Could you please give me your contact information? I don't feel comfortable sending it by email!"

"Don't worry, we won't call you. Mge and WA can also do it!"

Ultimately, Joel received a link, which was apparently Andy Weir's WhatsApp contact information.

Upon seeing this reply, Joel breathed a sigh of relief.

At least, it's not that the other party is unwilling to reach this deal; they probably just want to ascertain Chen Jin's thoughts.

"Thank you!"

After sending another email, Joel sent a WA to Chen Jin, relaying the contents of the previous emails, including Andy's contact information.

"The rest is up to the boss to negotiate!"

Based on Joel Rubin's experience, he couldn't have secured the deal on his own. Only if Chen Jin and Andy reached an agreement could they possibly acquire the rights to "The Martian." Sometimes, that's how deals work.

Meanwhile, Chen Jin was engrossed in reading Andy's novel, "The Martian."

I'm completely finished.

This is my conclusion after careful consideration.

It's over.

These six days, which should have been the beginning of the two most glorious months of my life, turned into the prelude to a nightmare.

I have absolutely no idea who'll see this stuff. I guess someone'll find it someday. Maybe in 100 years...

……

To be honest, Chen Jin found this opening quite baffling.

He was reading the English version, on Andy's personal website, which he accessed directly through his mobile browser.

Anyway, he didn't have much to do during the breaks between filming.

The first-person perspective makes for a strong sense of immersion, but perhaps due to differences between China and the US, Chen Jin has a slightly strange feeling about it.

But by the second chapter, Chen Jin sensed something was wrong.

Holy crap! Hardcore!
This novel is quite hardcore.

He could use all sorts of professional terms with ease. If Chen Jin hadn't experienced "A Beautiful Mind," he honestly wouldn't have been able to understand these professional English terms.

It's so sci-fi.

Putting aside the realism of the Mars description, Chen Jin was fascinated by the various designs of the main communication disk, carbon dioxide absorber, and spacesuit.

This guy is definitely an engineering student.

"If Guo Fan were to read this novel, wouldn't he have an immediate orgasm?"

Chen Jin could imagine that after watching "The Martian," this guy might have to put off watching "The Wandering Earth" for a while.

It's not that Chen Jin thinks "The Wandering Earth" is inferior to "The Martian"; on the contrary, "The Wandering Earth" is much more difficult to adapt than "The Martian".

The novel's immersive quality makes you feel as if the movie's visuals are right before your eyes, and you can already picture the scene in your mind.

This is actually more conducive to the adaptation and filming of the movie.

To be honest, while Liu Cixin's science fiction novels are incredibly impressive, they are also very difficult to adapt.

Especially for "The Three-Body Problem," the filming of Earth's shimmering and the Guzheng Project was extremely difficult, not to mention the second book of "The Three-Body Problem," which is the pinnacle of special effects.

Even as a filmmaker, Chen Jin didn't know how to realize those scenes in "The Three-Body Problem 1" or how to make the special effects fit.

This requires extensive team discussion and experimentation; we might even need to consult with Liu Cixin.

However, the book "The Martian" in front of us contains very little high-level information; it's simply about an astronaut's self-rescue on Mars. As for what Mars is like, space agencies from various countries have pictures and videos for reference.

And aren't the astronauts' self-rescue efforts easier to film than the Guzheng project?
Guo Fan and Chen Jin have both been directors, and in their eyes, science fiction is definitely easy to film, so they prefer to try it out first.

Who likes to start with the difficult part?
This is why Chen Jin sensed that Guo Fan would be agitated.

Because it would be much simpler to use "The Martian" as a sci-fi film to try your hand at making "The Wandering Earth".

Chen Jin even felt that... she could also make the film.

He used to be afraid of science fiction movies, knowing that science fiction, logic, knowledge, and so on were all important, but now... he feels fine with it.

This book can save directors a lot of trouble.

Drip!

Just as Chen Jin was engrossed in watching "The Martian," her phone suddenly vibrated.

(End of this chapter)