Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 524: Conquering the Old Director, Observations of the Water Slums

"We're going to take this kind of boat?" Director Eastwood pointed to the canoe-sized boat in front of him.

"This is already a relatively good boat." Lin Yuan jumped onto the boat first, and GAKKI-chan followed him onto the boat without saying a word.

This kind of boat can only carry three people at most, in addition to the boatman, and the remaining seat is just right for director Eastwood.

It was evening and the sky was gradually getting dark.

In a little while, once it is completely dark, the movie will begin in the Barkawi slum.

Buta, the show host, had already arrived early to participate in the preparations. Lin Yuan and his team did not have any on-site work, so they arrived later.

"Look, there are still stools that can be used as stools. Isn't that great?" Lin Yuan said, pointing to several old empty paint cans on the boat.

There are definitely no fixed chairs on a slum boat like this, and it's already great to have a few empty paint buckets used as stools.

Lin Yuan picked up a rusty paint bucket, blew off the dust on it, and motioned for GAKKI to sit down.

GAKKI-chan didn't mind the stool at all and sat down with a smile on her face.

Lin Yuan cleared another stool and waved to Director Eastwood: "Come quickly, or you'll miss the movie."

The old director sighed and got on the boat: "Lin Yuan, I really admire you."

"What's there to admire about this?"

“You really don’t mind the poor living conditions at all.

Under normal circumstances, young people cannot endure hardship, let alone you are the richest man in the world.

In my seventy-plus years of life, I haven't seen many people like you who live so purely. " Director Eastwood said.

In director Eastwood's social circle, he comes into contact with wealthy people with a lot of money, successful directors, and big stars who make a fortune every day. He is accustomed to these people's pursuit of a luxurious life.

When going out, you must drive a luxury car, wear custom-made clothes, and eat high-end ingredients...

There are not many people like Lin Yuan, who is already the richest man in the world and still lives such a simple and pure life.

Combined with Lin Yuan’s previous performance in Cherrapunji, it has become increasingly difficult for director Eastwood to conceal his love for Lin Yuan.

At the beginning, when the old director first noticed Lin Yuan, he was still a rising star in the film industry.

Although the movies shot by Lin Yuan are very thrilling, in the eyes of director Eastwood, they are not much different from those shot by Chinese action superstars represented by Chen Long.

They are very dedicated and hardworking, which is admirable. However, times are changing after all, and this reckless way of filming will eventually be eliminated by special effects production.

But as Lin Yuan's movies performed better and better at the box office, his personal reputation grew. Director Eastwood was surprised to find that without his noticing, Lin Yuan had grown into a towering tree.

When director Eastwood paid attention to Lin Yuan again, he found that he had already made so many great films.

From then on, the old director had the idea of ​​cooperating with Lin Yuan and also extended an invitation for cooperation at the Oscars ceremony.

In fact, strictly speaking, Lin Yuan was already a Hollywood superstar at that time, with a unique status.

But in director Eastwood's heart, he still looks at Lin Yuan with an equal attitude.

He doesn't care how much wealth Lin Yuan has. When it comes to film achievements, although Lin Yuan has made many good movies with both good reputation and box office success, director Eastwood thinks he is not bad either.

Having been in the film industry for half a century, he has also made many classic films that have stood the test of time and won awards at major film festivals.

He doesn't think he is worse than Lin Yuan. This is his pride as a veteran filmmaker.

But later, Lin Yuan's films continued to improve visibly, and each film was more dangerous and exciting than the previous one.

In addition to the progress in action scenes, the level of film production and core expression is also constantly improving.

So there was "The Song of Tang Dynasty", which represented Lin Yuan's masterpiece.

This movie completely changed director Eastwood's thinking, and he could no longer look at Lin Yuan with equal eyes.

He asked himself, could he make such a movie?
Even when evaluating himself, it’s always easy to have an overly high opinion of oneself, but the veteran director still came to the conclusion that he couldn’t film it.

Not only can he not shoot it, no other director in the current film industry can shoot it. This is a movie that belongs exclusively to Lin Yuan.

But after seeing such a good movie, director Eastwood, who has been in the film industry all his life, can no longer remain calm. If he can't make a movie like this himself, won't he go to the grave with regrets in the future?
Adhering to the idea of ​​joining if you can't beat them, director Eastwood finally realized his collaboration with Lin Yuan.

In fact, at the beginning of the collaboration, the veteran director was also nervous.

He didn't know whether Lin Yuan, who had already achieved success, could still maintain his original intention and continue to move forward steadily.

This worry is not unnecessary. In the old director's life, he has seen too many examples of people who changed completely after becoming successful.

What's more, Lin Yuan is engaged in extremely dangerous stunt action movies.

Ask yourself, if director Eastwood had Lin Yuan's wealth and fame, wouldn't it be nice to just lie back and enjoy the good life?

Isn’t the purpose of working so hard on the set to enjoy a better life?
But now I have everything, why do I still have to work so hard? What if something unexpected happens, won’t my wonderful life come to an abrupt end?
But during the filming in Cherrapunji, Lin Yuan completely conquered director Eastwood with his actions.

How can there be such a perfect person?

Handsome, rich, smart, brave, humble, gentle, kind...

It seemed as if God had instilled all good things into him alone.

This made director Eastwood's love for Lin Yuan grow day by day. Today, Lin Yuan's unintentional action was like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

This made him make up his mind: he was ready to work with Lin Yuan for the rest of his life.

Director Eastwood then pulled out a prepared agreement from his bag and handed it to Lin Yuan, saying, "I've been wanting to discuss this with you for a while."

Lin Yuan took it doubtfully and after flipping through a few pages, he realized that this was a long-term cooperation agreement.

The general meaning is that it was agreed that director Eastwood would sign a contract with Linyuan Pictures and become the exclusive director.

During the cooperation period, Linyuan Pictures only needs to promise to make a movie for him every two years.

There is no requirement for the filming cost of the film. The only requirement is that the film needs to be initiated by Lin Yuan.

There is no requirement for Lin Yuan to star in the film, but at least the script must be written by Lin Yuan.

The remaining agreements regarding remuneration and other matters are quite relaxed.

It can be said that this was an unfair agreement and director Eastwood's asking price was too low.

Lin Yuan looked at the agreement in his hand, not knowing how to respond.

He has wanted to recruit director Eastwood for a long time. He originally planned to wait until after finishing the film before bringing it up, but he didn't expect the old director to take the initiative to bring it up today.

Seeing him take out the agreement that had been prepared long ago showed that he had had this idea for a long time.

Lin Yuan was naturally very happy to see director Eastwood join. In his talent echelon building plan, the old director represents the current five to ten years.

Director Nolan represents the next twenty years.

Such an orderly talent pool is the foundation for Linyuan Pictures to continue to maintain its performance.

But Lin Yuan also knew that the old director was willing to join Lin Yuan Pictures not because of profit.

If it's about profit, it's very simple. Business is business. As long as the money is paid, he won't have any psychological burden.

But what the old director wants is more possibilities in life, which is no different from Mr. Eisen.

Lin Yuan was not worried that he could not give director Eastwood what he wanted. The worst that could happen was that he could just make a few more movies. Although this would make him very tired, there was nothing he could do about it.

After finishing the filming of "The Jungle Bully", he had to immediately start filming the next movie "The King's Avatar 2", and the remaining new movies also had to be planned as soon as possible.

Lin Yuan felt that there were too many people standing behind him, forcing him to keep running forward without stopping for a moment.

Perhaps this is why he felt so relaxed and comfortable in Dharavi, Tukamba, and even in Barkawi today?
Only in these places can Lin Yuan feel the down-to-earth atmosphere of life.

Seeing Lin Yuan pondering, Director Eastwood asked anxiously, "You don't look down on an old man like me, do you?"

"What are you talking about? Director, you are still strong and healthy. During these days of working with you, I am completely conquered by your directing ability. It's just that the content of this agreement is not appropriate." Lin Yuan said.

"Why is it inappropriate? As long as we all think it's OK, isn't that enough?" said director Eastwood.

"This is related to the company's compensation system. What will other directors think if you are given so little?" Lin Yuan replied.

After hearing Lin Yuan's words, Director Eastwood realized that he had been overthinking it. He hesitantly asked, "How about I revise it?"

Lin Yuan didn't hand the agreement back to Director Eastwood. Instead, he extended his hand and said, "We have reached an agreement on cooperation. I wish you a pleasant cooperation. I'll let me handle the specific terms of the agreement. I'll have the company's legal team prepare a copy for you."

"Okay, I'll leave it to you. We will definitely have a pleasant cooperation."

Director Eastwood stretched out his wrinkled right hand and shook hands with Lin Yuan vigorously.

Lin Yuan was quite satisfied at this moment. By chance, he accepted another general.

Director Eastwood is different from Director Coen, Vin Diesel, and other old directors.

He is a core talent who plays a vital role in the company, just like director Nolan and coach Meng Tao.

If a few more talents like this join, Lin Yuan can slowly enter a semi-retirement state.

Although it is impossible for him to retire completely, he is still young and if Linyuan Pictures does not produce at least one movie starring him every year, it will probably be no different from an ordinary film company.

Finally, they could set off. After the three of them sat on the paint bucket stool in the canoe, the boatman used a pole to take them away.

Starting from the Kisangani dock on the Congo River, the canoe entered a narrow waterway in about ten minutes.

Although this waterway is only more than 20 meters wide, there are quite a lot of small boats coming in and out.

According to the boatman, these are the boats entering and leaving the Barkawi slum. After all, there are more than 80,000 people living there, and they all rely on boats to get in and out. How could there not be many boats?

Fortunately, there are eight waterways leading to the Barkawi slum, which prevents this waterway from being blocked.

The canoe that Lin Yuan was riding on continued to move forward, and the water under the boat visibly changed from clear to turbid, and then to yellow with a hint of black.

The water was not only extremely dirty, but also emitted an unbearable stench. Kisangani is located in the equatorial region, and this river, mixed with countless sewage, was scorched by the scorching heat. How could it possibly smell good?

According to the boatman, it is now evening and the smell is much better.

On the one hand, it is because the temperature has dropped, and on the other hand, it is because the daily "afternoon rain" will also purify the river to a certain extent.

If you come here at noon, the smell will be at least three times as bad as it is now.

Lin Yuan was helpless about this. He didn't expect that he would suffer a setback before even reaching the Bakawi slums.

However, judging from the water quality, Lin Yuan knew that they were not far from their destination.

Sure enough, after the canoe sailed forward for another four or five minutes, the outline of the Barkawi slum appeared before their eyes.

Lin Yuan’s first impression of the Barkawi slum was: yellow, a huge expanse of yellow.

The murky lake water is yellow, the wooden planks of the stilt houses on the water are yellow, the thatched roofs are yellow, and the canoes moored beside the stilt houses are also yellow...

When large areas of yellow are connected together, it gives people a gray and dusty feeling, like a human settlement in the apocalyptic dunes, full of desolation.

As the canoe continued to approach and officially entered the Barkawi slum, Lin Yuan and his group were able to observe these wooden stilt houses up close.

These stilt houses on the water are built one next to the other. Some of the wood has broken, and some are simply made of a wooden frame and randomly surrounded by plastic sheets, which is considered a shed.

The "bridges" connecting the stilt houses are made of wood.

To be more precise, it was made of some old wooden boards that were pieced together unevenly. It was shaky when you walked on it, and you could see the waterway below through the fist-sized gaps between the wooden boards. It seemed quite unreliable.

One of the shacks looked very old and dirty, but it was connected to a large number of stilt houses through wooden bridges, making it look like a regional center.

"What is that house?" Director Eastwood asked curiously.

"Guess what?" the boatman asked with a smile.

"I guess it's a convenience store. It's such a convenient place, so it must be a place for people to buy daily necessities." Director Eastwood replied.

"Mr. Lin, what do you think it is?" the boatman asked.

"Let Miss Aragaki answer for me." Lin Yuan said.

GAKKI-chan thought for a moment and said, "It should be the toilet."

The boatman showed a surprised expression: "Ms. Aragaki is right. How did you guess it was the toilet?"

"I heard Miss Betty say that she and Lin Yuan lived together in the Dharavi slum in Mumbai. I myself also rode on the 'hell ship' with Lin Yuan a few days ago.

These experiences all have one thing in common: life in crowded slums always seems to be centered around toilets," said GAKKI.

"It seems you understand how the poor live," the boatman lamented. "In the Barkawi slum, an average of 20 households share one toilet like this. And sewage is discharged directly into the waterway beneath the shanties."

Director Eastwood looked at the various kitchen waste and household garbage floating in the waterway, as well as a large amount of indescribable muddy substance.

An idea came to his mind: the Barkawi slum was not built on a lake, but on a sewer!

"Pa!" Lin Yuan suddenly stretched out his hand and slapped GAKKI-chan's ear hard.

"What's wrong?" GAKKI asked.

"Mosquito." Lin Yuan opened his palm, and a big mosquito that was slapped to pieces appeared in his palm.

He took out mosquito repellent from his backpack and handed it to GAKKI and the director: "Spray more, there are a lot of mosquitoes here."

As we all know, there are mosquitoes wherever there is water, let alone such a large sewer.

Mosquitoes can spread various diseases such as malaria, filariasis, dengue fever, yellow fever, and epidemic encephalitis B.

Lin Yuan and GAKKI-chan don’t have to worry about getting sick, but Director Eastwood is an old man after all, and his immunity is definitely not as good as that of young people.

If you get a serious illness here, it will be really bad.

The environment in front of me is terrible. From living conditions to sanitary conditions, everything is unbearable.

Even for Lin Yuan, who has experienced so much, he has to admit that compared to here, the Dharavi slums and the big flatbed boat are like heaven.

When we think about more than 80,000 people living in such a place for years, everyone's mood can't help but become heavy.

At this moment, there was suddenly a splashing sound on the water.

"Whoa~ Whoa~"

On the water surface where countless pieces of garbage were floating, a few children were swimming around.

They held their breath and dived into the water, swimming a long way before returning to the surface to breathe.

"What are they doing? Even if they want to learn to swim, can't they go to the cleaner waters outside?" Director Eastwood asked in surprise.

Needless to say, the water quality here is terrible. If he accidentally drinks a sip of water, he will probably have to be hospitalized.

Even if a child who grew up here has strong immunity, he or she will definitely not like the taste of the water here.

"It should be fishing." replied the boatman.

"Catching fish? There are fish here?" Director Eastwood asked in disbelief.

"Of course, and there are quite a few of them. After all, it's smelly garbage to humans, but it's no different from bait for fish. Don't forget, this used to be a fishing village." said the boatman.

As if to verify what the boatman said, a boy of about nine years old floated to the surface of the water happily holding a big fish: "Look at me, I caught a big one."

The other children swam over and said, "I'm so jealous! This must be two kilograms! I can sell it for some lamp oil."

Several black children climbed up to a nearby shed and carefully put the fish away.

"I'll share half of the fish with you. You haven't eaten meat for several days, right?" said the child who caught the fish.

"Don't we have to sell it for money?" several children asked.

"Well, my mother promised me that I could eat the fish I caught today. I will give you half."

"Thank you so much! Next time if I catch a fish, I will share it with you!" the other children cheered.

Lin Yuan looked at this group of children who were less than ten years old. Most of them were only wearing a pair of shorts, and their ribs were clearly visible on their naked upper bodies.

They were skinny, but their bellies were big.

This kind of swollen belly caused by extreme malnutrition is very common among children in Congo. Lin Yuan has seen too many such children in recent days.

But for director Eastwood, it was something he had never seen before, which gave him a great shock.

"Oh my God, they are so hungry. Is there anything we can do for them?" asked the old director.

The elderly can never bear to see their children suffer, let alone such hunger.

"Wasn't tonight's movie screening accompanied by free medical consultations and food distribution? But our resources are limited. There are over 80,000 poor people here.

If this were applied to the entire Congo, there would probably be 4000 million poor people, and if this were applied to the entire Africa, there would be 10 billion poor people.

"Relying on this little bit of relief from us is just a drop in the bucket." Lin Yuan said helplessly.

But now that I’ve seen it, I’ll feel sad if I don’t do anything.

So Lin Yuan took out a few brand new ten-dollar bills from his wallet.

He folded the bill slightly, and it became a simple paper dart.

As Lin Yuan threw hard, the dollar dart drew several graceful arcs and went into their trouser pockets.

I believe that when they return home later, this unexpected surprise will bring them some comfort.

It’s not that Lin Yuan is stingy, he only wants to give ten dollars.

But giving too much will cause a lot of trouble.

Relief in emergencies does not relieve poverty. Such systemic poverty cannot be solved by one or two relief efforts.

Seeing Lin Yuan's behavior, Director Eastwood felt more at ease. He asked:
"We can only do so much. Ultimately, they have to save themselves. But how will the residents of Barkawi survive?"

“Bakawe used to be a small fishing village, and the villagers caught fish and sold them to the citizens of Kisangani, earning a pretty good income.

But later, with the development of Kisangani, more and more people flocked here to fish and make money, so the entire slum became larger and larger. Later, the residents could only rely on working outside and collecting and processing waste to make a living.

It is said that there are 80,000 people living here, but I feel that there are at least 100,000 people here.

The population is too large, so everyone's life is becoming increasingly difficult." The canoeist continued.

"There's no running water or electricity here," director Eastwood said, pointing to the shacks.

It was getting darker by now, but there was no electric light coming from any of the sheds, only the dim light of oil lamps.

This kind of light is already quite familiar to veteran directors.

During the time in Tukanba Village, they also used such oil lamps.

With the help of the dim lights on both sides of the waterway, the canoe slowly moved forward.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise coming from the front.

The feeling is not just that there are a lot of people talking, but also that there is a festive atmosphere, with the kind of lively temple fair feeling that is familiar to Chinese people.

There were conversations, hawking, joyful laughter, and the sounds of various musical instruments...all the sounds mixed together, making it quite lively.

"Did you hear the sound? We're almost there. Look, it's right there." The boatman said, pointing to the distance.

Following the boatman's direction, a large platform built in the middle of the water appeared before their eyes in the distance.

(End of this chapter)