Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 412: The Song of Tang Dynasty Project Officially Launched

"The name of the new movie is 'The Heroic Song of Tang Dynasty'?" Mr. Eisen asked. "From the title, you can roughly tell that it's a film set during the Tang Dynasty in China and tells a heroic story."

Lin Yuan nodded. This was a typical naming method used by bigwigs. The amount of information did not have to be sufficient, but the name had to be impressive and arouse people's imagination.

If it is made into an online movie in the future Internet age, I am afraid the movie title will have to be changed to:

"Ancestor Yuchi Gong", "Tang Dynasty: My Wife is a Military God", "Tang Dynasty Border General, My Boss Tried to Murder Me", "Refusing to Drink the Blood of Soldiers, I Want to Cut a Bright Road to the Universe"...

This is a movie set in the early years of the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, the Tang Empire had just reached its peak during the Kaiyuan Period and was slowly decaying and declining.

The male protagonist Yuchi Yuan, played by Lin Yuan, was born into the Yuchi family, a family of military merit, but the family has been on decline for a long time since it was passed down to the seventh generation.

At this time, Yuchi Yuan was a young general in the border army. Because he refused to eat the empty salary and drink the blood of the soldiers, his superiors hated him and wanted to kill him with the help of the enemy. The story of the movie began here.

This is the first time that Lin Yuan has filmed an original movie since his rebirth.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to continue to “borrow” from those successful films, but when he wants to make a film that can showcase ancient Chinese civilization, there are no samples to learn from.

After the huge success of the two films "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero", a large number of domestic directors have embarked on the path of shooting commercial blockbusters with ancient Chinese themes.

Martial arts, fantasy, history... they have tried almost all of these themes.

It has created a series of movies including: "House of Flying Daggers", "Curse of the Golden Flower", "The Banquet", "The Promise", "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" and so on.

But from a box office perspective, all of these films were failures.

In Lin Yuan’s view, the failure of these films is not surprising, but inevitable.

Because the creator fell into the misunderstanding of wanting everything.

Any filmmaker must first answer a question: "Who is this film made for? Is it for foreigners to enter the international market and promote Chinese culture? Or is it for Chinese people to see and establish a presence in the domestic market?"

This principle couldn't be simpler. When developing any product, you need to research user profiles and identify their needs. This way, you won't create something you think is great but leaves your audience completely confused.

Faced with this simple question, every director chose the international market.

This is also normal. After all, the domestic film market is still very small at this time and cannot afford the production costs of commercial blockbusters, so it must go international.

If you choose to enter the international market, you must know what Chinese elements foreigners like?
Lin Yuan has lived in Europe and the United States for so many years, and he knows very well that foreigners like the splendid ancient Chinese civilization, or in other words, let’s first take a look at what the scene was like at the peak level of ancient civilization.
They will be keen to see the ancient Chinese diet and clothing, the magnificent ancient cities, and the mysterious lifestyle of the ancients...

In addition to these, foreigners will also like China's magnificent landscapes and the exciting ancient Eastern war scenes.

These needs are very clear.

So what do foreigners dislike? Or what is the biggest obstacle?

Cultural barriers lead to differences in values, a large number of unrecognizable oriental faces and difficult-to-remember names of oriental characters.

The success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has led many directors to try to export Eastern values, that is, not only to make money, but also to export the cultural core and make money without doing anything.

This is very obvious in "Hero". Director Zhang Mou tried to use the Chinese concept of "family, country and the world" to infect European and American audiences.

Let the audience realize the greatness of the King of Qin and Wuming's courage to let go of hatred, which can be called a "hero."

But the result is that European and American audiences are not interested at all. They only care about the gorgeous pictures in the movie.

The huge cultural barrier means that people simply cannot understand what we say, and even if they do understand, they will not agree with it.

The success of "Hero" is based on visuals.

Without director Zhang Mou's unique visual skills, "Hero" would have been a miserable failure.

Lin Yuan had insisted on revising the script of "Hero" and what was cut out was the part where Wuming gave up the assassination plan for the sake of the idea of ​​"the world".

This is a sentiment that only Chinese people can understand.

In fact, when the movie was actually released, not to mention foreigners, many Chinese people didn't buy it.

Therefore, in Lin Yuan's view, if films with Chinese backgrounds want to succeed internationally, they must first give up the idea of ​​educating foreigners on their values.

The huge cultural barriers cannot be overcome by just one movie.

Until 2024, China will not be able to export Chinese values, let alone now that it is 2003?

Only when your economy completely crushes the other party, causing them to admire you and genuinely want to understand and learn the core of your culture, will it be possible to export these Chinese values.

This is simply impossible to do at this time. Any domestic director who tries to do so will end up with a bloody head and be taught a lesson by the market.

Focusing on displaying the elements that foreigners like and guiding them step by step so that they can be subtly influenced by Chinese culture is already a remarkable achievement.

After solving the problem of value output, there is still a second difficulty, which is a large number of unrecognizable Oriental faces and difficult-to-remember Oriental character names.

When many domestic audiences accept foreign films, television shows, novels and other cultural works, they find it difficult to remember a large number of foreign names and have no idea who is who.

You may also feel like you have face blindness. Except for the protagonist who is particularly good-looking and recognizable, the faces of many characters are difficult to distinguish.

This problem also exists among foreigners. In their eyes, a large number of Asian faces are also difficult to distinguish.

I forget a lot of oriental names as soon as I think of them.

At the same time, when they see so many "Oriental foreigners", they will feel very unfamiliar and have a poor sense of immersion.

When these problems were put before Lin Yuan, his past experience was enough to solve most of them.

The first is Lin Yuan himself. For European and American audiences, he is a "family member" who is already so familiar that it cannot be more familiar.

He plays the leading role, and for European and American audiences, there is no problem of lack of sense of substitution: this is our Lin Yuan!
In Lin Yuan's films, many of the actors who play important roles are familiar faces to European and American audiences:
Liu Yufei will play the female lead, as Lin Yuan's girlfriend. Thanks to the two hit movies "King of Spy" and "Lin Yuan and His Wife" which were just released this year, she is already well known to the public.

Meng Tao will also play an important role in this movie. He has already become familiar to the audience through the end credits of every Lin Yuan movie.

At the same time, he also wanted to invite Kung Fu Emperor Li Renjie to star in this movie.

In fact, Chen Long is also a good choice, but Chen Long has only ever played the male lead, so it is difficult for Lin Yuan to invite him to play the second male lead.

Moreover, his new movie "The Myth" has been approved and is about to start shooting. He probably won't have time to play the second male lead in his movie.

After sorting out this series of thoughts, Lin Yuan asked, "Do you have any concerns about my desire to make this film?"

Accepting questions is also a way to identify and fill in the gaps.

Mr. Eisen said: "If the story is set in ancient China, some audiences may find it too unfamiliar. Even if they like you very much, they may choose to wait and see instead of going to the cinema immediately."

Lin Yuan said, "I've actually considered the issue of unfamiliar cultural background. You don't know much about Chinese history, but do you know anything about the Tang Dynasty?"

"Of course! There are Chinatowns in all major cities, and Chinese people are also called Tang people. I believe most Americans know that Tang was a very remarkable regime in ancient China," Mr. Eisen replied.

"Then you would be curious about what this great dynasty, which the Chinese call the Tang Dynasty, was like?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Hearing you say that, I'm really curious. We've eaten so much Chinese food in Chinatown and seen so many Chinese-style buildings, so naturally we want to see what the Tang Dynasty was like over a thousand years ago.

In this respect, the Tang Dynasty is more attractive than the Han Dynasty, and even more intriguing than the Qin Dynasty where the film "Hero" takes place! "Mr. Eisen replied.

Hearing his words, Lin Yuan nodded.

There are so many dynasties in ancient China, but if you have to choose one as the era for a story to enter the European and American film market, the Tang Dynasty is undoubtedly the best era.

"In the 'Lord of the Rings' films, the grand scenes of cavalry charges and sieges are thrilling. Would you like to see the magnificent battles of the ancient East?" Lin Yuan continued. Mr. Eisen's eyes lit up at Lin Yuan's words. "Of course! These grand scenes are the best promotion for the movies. Just thinking about the awe-inspiring military formations of the East is quite exciting."

"If that's the case, the production cost of the film will inevitably be very high. Large-scale scenes require a lot of manpower and a lot of post-production," said Mr. Eisen.

"According to my budget, the production cost of this movie may reach 3 million US dollars," said Lin Yuan.

"$3 million? That's a big gamble. But if you've thought it through, I support you," Mr. Eisen replied.

$3 million may be the highest cost for Hollywood productions currently.

Generally speaking, a top-tier blockbuster would cost around $1 million to produce, such as Lin Yuan’s previous film “Jurassic Park 3”.

Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" is already a representative of high cost, and it only cost 2.4 million US dollars.

Now the budget of Lin Yuan's new movie has soared to 3 million US dollars, which means that "The Legend of Tang Dynasty" is aiming for the global box office champion next year, and even has the ambition to surpass "The King of Spy Wars".

However, "The King of Spy Wars" has the added bonus of climbing buildings with bare hands and passing through thunderstorm clouds with the body. This is a thrilling and tragic plot, and the assist of the super high ticket price created such a box office miracle.

How can a movie like "The Legend of Tang Dynasty" surpass "The King of Spy"?

Lin Yuan clearly saw Mr. Eisen's confusion, but he didn't respond. Instead, he continued, "Most of the filming locations for this movie will be in China. One of the filming locations, the Datang Film and Television Zone in Fanyu Film and Television City, has already been completed."

"In the past few months, you have been urging me to speed up the construction of the Datang Film and Television Zone. I was curious why. I didn't expect that you had already made this plan and were waiting for it?" Liu Yufei asked.

"Yes, I have wanted to make this movie for a long time. I have been waiting for the conditions to be ripe, waiting for the Datang Film and Television Zone to be built, and waiting for the problem of insufficient extras to be solved. This $3 million filming cost is a win-win situation if it is put into China!" said Lin Yuan.

Mr. Eisen nodded, and Liu Yufei also expressed that she understood.

If it were Liu Yufei a year or two ago, she might not have realized the benefits of Lin Yuan doing this, but now she can understand it immediately.

First of all, after deducting the fixed costs of post-production special effects, the cost of filming in China is definitely lower. If $3 million is spent on filming in China, it can at least achieve the effect of $5 million filming in North America.

This inevitably creates a huge gap between "The Legend of Tang" and other Hollywood films in terms of film production quality.

After all, it’s a $5 million production! For those movies that cost $1 million and are considered top blockbusters, the final presentation must be overwhelming.

The second is the $3 million filming expenditure, which was actually spent in China.

To put it more directly, this is a major event that will directly boost GDP by hundreds of billions of RMB.

(US$3 million is equivalent to nearly RMB 30 billion, and the consumption chain has a transmission effect, so it is not the case that consumption of RMB 30 billion will only increase GDP by RMB 30 billion.)
Whether it is scene construction, costumes, props, accommodation, catering, or manpower expenses, this money will have a huge consumption-stimulating effect in the country.

Those who make money from the Lin Yuan crew will generate more consumer demand, which will then be transmitted to other companies and individuals, thereby driving the economic development of the filming location.

It can even speed up the development of the domestic film and television supporting industries, which is truly beneficial to the country and the people and achieves multiple goals at one stroke.

"I didn't expect you to think so far ahead. I have two questions to ask." Liu Yufei raised her hand.

"Go ahead and ask a few more questions to help me find out what I'm missing and fill in the gaps." Lin Yuan replied with a smile.

"The first question is that I think relying solely on the appeal of ancient Chinese culture and your personal charisma is definitely enough to attract the audience.

"But your signature brand is a double-edged sword. When audiences buy your movie tickets, they inevitably expect you to have some new performances," Liu Yufei asked.

Lin Yuan knew she would ask this. As his girlfriend, she would definitely be concerned about whether he was still planning to commit suicide.

The answer is...yes!

The audience's love has, to some extent, cut off Lin Yuan's retreat.

He must produce something that exceeds the audience's expectations in every movie, otherwise his reputation will inevitably decline.

But Lin Yuan also knows that simply piling up thrilling action scenes will not necessarily win good reputation.

Later there was a movie called "Extreme Vigilantes", which tells the story of a criminal gang who are keen on extreme sports.

The biggest highlight of this movie is the concept of Ozaki's Eight Items.

The Ozaki Hachijo is a series of eight extreme sports that pay tribute to the power of nature.

It includes eight of the most dangerous extreme sports, including extreme rafting in assault boats, extreme wingsuit flying, free rock climbing, and extreme diving.

This movie shows the thrills of these eight extreme sports in order to fully attract the audience's attention.

But the result is... the movie grossed $1.3 million worldwide.

It can be seen that simply piling thrilling action scenes into a movie will not necessarily lead to success.

The success of Lin Yuan’s past films is not only because his action scenes are thrilling enough, but also because the storylines of those films are outstanding.

Therefore, Lin Yuan is not blindly pursuing thrills and excitement, but the thrilling action scenes must be closely integrated with the story to be good.

In response to Liu Yufei's question, Lin Yuan said, "There will be some thrilling challenges. I will design them in conjunction with the plot to ensure sufficient watchability. I'm keeping the specific details a secret for now, as I still need to discuss the feasibility with Meng Tao."

Seeing that Liu Yufei was still a little hesitant, Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Don't worry. In ancient times, it's impossible to pull off thrilling stunts like hijacking an airplane or parachuting."

"No! I know you very well. The further back in time, the simpler and more brutal the action scenes are, and the more dangerous they are," said Liu Yufei.

"Haha~ We'll have to wait until after this discussion to find out. What's the next question?"

As expected, she was his childhood sweetheart. Even his superb acting skills could not hide from her eyes. Lin Yuan could only choose to brush this question aside.

Liu Yufei asked, "I saw a draft of the script for this movie, and it has quite a few horseback action scenes. Can you ride a horse? The riding skills required are not something you can master in a short period of time."

Her worries were right. In modern society, apart from the grassland herdsmen, only the old aristocrats who like to show their superiority through riding skills ride horses.

Someone from Lin Yuan's background definitely wouldn't know how to ride a horse.

In this movie, the riding requirement is not as simple as being able to make the horse run, but requires Lin Yuan to be able to perform various difficult fighting moves on horseback.

This is something that ordinary riders cannot do.

In response, Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Don't worry, I've already mastered some pretty good riding skills."

"Ah? When did you learn it secretly and become proficient in riding?" Liu Yufei asked in surprise.

She knew Lin Yuan too well. If he said it was good, it must be very good.

"Just practice in your spare time and you'll master it." Lin Yuan was obviously not telling the truth.

The truth is... it's a new skill given by the system.

Some time ago, when he and Betty completed their trip to India, the system immediately gave them a reward:
[The host and the AB-type girl completed an unforgettable journey and received the skill reward: Master-level riding.]

The effects of the skills are obvious, so I won't describe them in detail.

After acquiring this skill, Lin Yuan finally made up his mind to shoot a movie with an ancient background.

Riding a horse across the battlefield is a man’s greatest romance, and it is also his killer weapon that can bring a brand new visual experience to the audience.

"Then I have no problem." Liu Yufei said.

"Since everyone thinks it's okay, let's officially start the film project. I will complete the preliminary preparations as soon as possible." Mr. Eisen finalized the matter.

(End of this chapter)