Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 584 Arrival in Lijiang (13)

"The previous film, 'The Big Winner,' also had its adaptation rights purchased. The original version was called 'The Never-Ending Game,' while the Korean version was called 'Live Freely'..."

"I have no problem with remakes, the most important thing is to create something new! I've sold the remake rights to many of my films!"

“Nowadays, our film market is huge, but we lack creativity, so we search the world for all kinds of successful movies to remake… I think that’s perfectly reasonable, Hollywood has always done the same thing!”

"Remakes... are not that easy. If it were simple, why wouldn't others make them? Do they think the money is too hot to handle?"

"Yes, we're going to film 'Burning' next!"

"Well, the main plot is based on Haruki Murakami's 'Barn Burning,' combined with William Faulkner's short story 'Barn Burning,' and also incorporates elements of wealth inequality and youthful anger..."

"The story 'Barn Burning' is included in 'Fireflies.' Originally titled 'Fireflies, Barn Burning, and Other Stories,' it was written between 1982 and 1984 and published as a collection in 1984. It's Haruki Murakami's third collection of short stories, containing five stories, making it the shortest collection of his works... This plot is actually very suitable for a suspense or crime film... That's what I initially thought too. Later, I realized that what truly interested me when I first read Murakami's 'Barn Burning' was how it followed a strange and mysterious event, and then I wanted to maintain that ambiguous feeling throughout the story..."

Can you disclose the production cost?

"More than 20 million!"

"Huh? So little?"

"A crime drama with an art-house feel like this will only gross around 100 million yuan at most, and that's only because I'm the lead... So our budget of over 20 million yuan is quite a lot..."

……

The production cost of "Burning" was very low...

After all, this is an experimental film.

The market expectations are there!
Budgeting must be based on box office expectations...

It's impossible to have it all.

"Burning" is an award-contending film, and award-contending films shouldn't be expected to make much at the box office!

Art films are inherently niche!

In a healthy and positive film market, art films will never become the mainstream in cinemas.

Even in the French film market, Hollywood blockbusters dominate.

Last year, the top four box office hits in France were: *Despicable Me 2*, *Iron Man 3*, *Django Unchained*, and *Gravity*…

Even among domestic films, comedies are the most successful, like "Teachers".

Even "Blue Is the Warmest Color," which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, only grossed $839 million at the French domestic box office...

In addition, Bruce Lee performed best at the French box office – he occupied the top four spots in the top ten of the French box office rankings for Chinese-language films!
"Burning," in its original timeline, didn't even reach $1000 million in global box office...

The main reason is that it was not released in mainland China.

According to Shen Yan's prediction, his version of "Burning" should gross over 100 million yuan at the mainland box office, and selling the overseas rights should break even...

Why should we say "should"?

Because public relations costs will be at least $500 million!
By the way, Chen Chong is one of the jury members at this year's Venice Film Festival…

I really hate it!

……

Dilraba joined the crew 20 days early!
The script for "Burning" looks like it's going to be a great movie.

The story mainly revolves around Lee Jong-soo, an amateur writer who makes a living by delivering goods. One day, he runs into his childhood friend, Hye-mi, and the two develop feelings for each other—at least Jong-soo does.

Before traveling to Africa, Hye-mi entrusted her cat to Jong-soo's care. After returning home, Hye-mi introduced Jong-soo to Ben, a new friend she had met in Africa. Ben was a completely different person from Jong-soo and Hye-mi. He lived in a luxury apartment in an affluent area, and his job was to play around, using drugs as a pastime.

Jong-soo gradually felt that he and Hye-mi were growing further and further apart, and finally, after an argument, Jong-soo lost all contact with Hye-mi forever.

Ben became the object of Zhongxiu's suspicion.

Hye-mi's image is one of plastic surgery, materialism, and sexual promiscuity.

These characteristics are clearly stated at the beginning of the script, without any interweaving of reality and fiction.

Women like Huimei are very common in modern society. They have low incomes but maintain consumption levels far exceeding their income, and are even burdened with debt.

They are willing to spend their meager savings on short-term investments like cosmetic surgery and travel, rather than cultivating a skill to secure their livelihood.

She even felt that she had more in common with Ben.

They traveled to Africa around the same time and met at a Kenyan airport, which initially gave Huimei the illusion that they were from the same world. However, while traveling abroad was simply "playing and working without any difference" for Ben, it cost Huimei almost all of her savings...

Ultimately, Hyemi vanished without a trace…

For Huimei, her tragic fate was already sealed: she would either be used as a plaything by a perverted rich man or be burdened with huge debts and forced to live in hiding.

Like those young girls who take out nude loans, they are flowers about to bloom, but they choose to become firewood, burning their lives away.

Does that mean the character is completely meaningless?
It is indeed meaningful—because of Hye-mi's character, "Burning" was not well received by the Cannes jury, who felt that the female character was not independent enough!
Not feminist enough!
Then, "Burning" didn't win a single award...

In fact, upon deeper analysis, Huimei felt that she was spiritually hungry, that is, rich, so she went to Africa for tourism.
She performs a pantomime of peeling an orange; the key to this performance is to forget about the orange in your mind and instead focus on how much you want to eat it…

But does she actually want to eat it?
In reality, her hunger for material things was greater than her spiritual hunger…

Then, Dilraba shared a bunch of her insights on the character…

Each chapter is quite long, covering Hye-mi's family background, personality, profession, and how her views on Jong-soo reflect her own perspectives on life and existence.

Shen Yan initially took a serious look, but later became perfunctory…

Because there is no need!

Yes, the more detailed an actor's research is, the better, but often, doing a good job of research doesn't mean you can perform it well!
Just like many popular celebrities who post farewell messages after finishing each film or TV series...

It's pretentious and completely unnecessary.

If you don't feel like writing or don't have any feelings, don't force yourself. Don't hire a ghostwriter to write a bunch of fancy but empty words. Your efforts have already been made in the role; there's no need to add more scenes outside of the play!
An actor posted a long article bidding farewell to a certain Mary Sue romance idol drama…

It has a Douban rating of 3 or 4 points...

Acting in it was embarrassing enough, how could you possibly manage to write a long essay about it?

However, Shen Yan didn't say it directly. Instead, he subtly advised, "I think you should first read the scene in the script that moves you the most... and then act it out in front of the mirror!"

"Is this how you choose scripts?"

"Correct!"

Then Dilraba actually performed a dance scene in front of a mirror and sent it to Shen Yan…

Shen Yan read it once and commented: "I remember that Hui Mei in the script was naked before dancing... You're dressed, this is unacceptable!"

Then she replied, "Do you want to see it?"

Shen Yan replied directly, "Let's talk about it when I get to Lijiang!"

(End of this chapter)