I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 495 A Great Start!

At 10:20 a.m. Pacific Time, Liu Jin arrived in Seattle.

To be honest, he didn't know much about Seattle, mainly from the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. In his mind, Seattle should be a city that was always rainy.

But when I arrived in Seattle, I found that it was sunny and warm.

The person who came to pick him up was Quentin.

As soon as Liu Jin got in the car, he started nagging non-stop.

The main problem was that Liu Jin stood him up last year, making him wait in Texas for a month.

“I was shot, Bro. It’s not that I didn’t want to find you.”

"cool!"

Quentin's reaction made Liu Jin really want to punch him.

"Amos, what do you think would happen if I adapted your story into a movie?"

"not so good!"

"why?"

Do you think you Americans would care about the story of a Chinese person being shot by a petty thief?

"Well, that makes sense."

Quentin, while driving, suddenly asked, "What if I became Black?"

"What do you mean?"

"The story of a Black writer who was shot after exposing white racism..."

Liu Jin glanced at him and said with a smile, "You can give it a try!"

"Hmm, I'll consider it."

However, that doesn't seem exciting enough. A Black writer goes deep into Mexico to investigate a drug cartel, only to be assassinated by them...

Something seems to be missing.

"Then you might as well write a DP crime story set in the lawless border region between Mexico and America."

Okay, let's write about an idealistic female FBI agent who joins a special forces unit led by a highly experienced JD agent, driven by revenge. Their goal is to arrest a major drug lord. The FBI agent even recruits a former agent who infiltrated the drug lord's inner circle as a consultant. However, as the operation deepens, the female agent's moral compass and her beliefs in law enforcement clash…

Then……"

Hey, this seems to be a plot from Sisinar.

"Then what happened?"

"Then, I didn't think about it."

"You're such a waste!"

Quentin couldn't help but mutter.

His words weren't malicious; they were just a habit.

Liu Jin ignored him and simply closed his eyes.

Siamese Operator?
It has received good reviews, but its box office performance seems to be just average.

The female lead seems to be Emily Blunt.

Yes, Liu Jin quite liked this actor in his past life.

The production cost was not high, and the box office was only so-so, but the producers must have made money, otherwise they wouldn't have made a sequel later.

Hmm, it seems like writing it down isn't entirely out of the question.

Just the director...

Liu Jin opened his eyes, glanced at Quentin, and shook his head.

"What do you mean?"

Quentin noticed his subtle actions.

Liu Jin chuckled and said, "It feels like it could be made into a movie, but it doesn't seem to suit your style."

"Why is it not suitable?"

“I’m afraid that if you keep filming, you’ll end up turning into Kill Bill.”

"Hahaha, how could that be!"

Quentin couldn't help but burst into laughter.

But Liu Jin thought about it very seriously and decided to abandon Quentin.

He was genuinely afraid that this guy had turned Sisiagos into a cult film.

And Emily Blunt is still young.

As far as I can remember, this movie was filmed ten years later, and without those ten years of honing her skills, Emily's acting would probably be hard-pressed to meet the requirements.

Her role...

Eh?
Liu Jin felt that the Serbian Emperor seemed quite suitable.

As for the director...

After the script is written, I'll ask Sophia again; maybe I can find a suitable candidate.

Liu Jin suddenly realized that his connections in Hollywood weren't as powerful as he had imagined.

Never mind, let's talk about it later.

He shook his head, putting the matter out of his mind, and resumed his casual conversation with Quentin.

……

The rough cut of "Life Is Beautiful" is complete.

The three-and-a-half-hour duration felt too long to Liu Jin.

However, compression will definitely be done during the final cut, but Sophia also wants to hear Liu Jin's thoughts on how to do the final cut.

What are Liu Jin's thoughts?
He could only compare the film "Life Is Beautiful" from his original timeline with the one before him in his mind. He'd been in Seattle for three days, and Sofia had dragged him to watch movies for all three days.

He even felt a little nauseous!

However, he still offered many suggestions, which Sofia adopted one by one.

Then I was pulled in to be a consultant for three days, and finally we decided to compress the length to 110 minutes, which is six minutes shorter than the original film.

But the six-minute-shortened version of "Life Is Beautiful" seemed even more impactful to Liu Jin.

The older brother's performance in the film was exceptionally outstanding.

Sofia praised her, saying: "She is an excellent actress."

If he were American, he could be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for this film.

This is also a reward for the older brother.

Juliette Binoche's performance in the film was also extremely powerful and deeply moving.

In Liu Jin's opinion, Juliet's performance was far superior to Nicoletta Braschi's in the original film.

"That's settled then. When will post-production be finished?"

"It should be completed by the middle of next month."

"Alright, let's submit it to this year's Cannes Film Festival. I plan to submit it through the Magic Shadow Group. What do you think?"

"I have no opinion!"

After a brief conversation with Sophia, Liu Jin hurriedly left Seattle.

He originally planned to visit the set of "Casino Royale," but after contacting Eva, he learned that Eva and the others had already gone to Venice for filming.

Left with no other choice, Liu Jin had to give up his plan to visit the set.

Sophie Marceau and the others weren't there, and he didn't bother to linger, so he flew directly from Seattle to New York.

Because, on January 6th, "The Da Vinci Code" was officially released in North America.

It was launched simultaneously not only in North America, but also in France and Spain.

Moreover, within four days of its release, global sales exceeded one million copies, ranking first on the North American book market sales charts.

The Da Vinci Code has indeed sparked heated discussions.

But this is just the beginning; even more intense discussions are yet to come.

After all, Mary Magdalene is a highly controversial figure, and Leonardo da Vinci's famous paintings further complicate the story.

Upon learning that Liu Jin was in America, Ms. Luo from Senqu immediately invited him to New York.

He is going to hold three book signings in New York.

This is also Liu Jin's first autograph session at America.

"Why entrust 'Nemo' and 'Night at the Museum' to scholars? Amos, we're old friends!"

After meeting Liu Jin, Sen Qulu expressed his dissatisfaction.

"Night at the Museum" was released last November and caused quite a stir.

It is said that many people make a special trip to the British Museum.

The China Pavilion, in particular, has become the most mysterious place in the minds of many.

Liu Jin smiled wryly, “Nemo is a children’s book, not suitable for Random House. As for Night at the Museum… to be honest, that book was written for Eva. You know, she wasn’t very happy on set last year, so I wanted to write a novel specifically for her to avoid making things difficult for her. Time was too tight; if I had more time, I would have chosen Random House.”

Upon hearing this, Sen Qu Luo agreed with Liu Jin's explanation.

But then she suddenly asked, "Amos, I heard you had another project last year?"

"That one?"

"Who are you planning to give that trilogy to?"

"I haven't decided yet!"

"Give it to Langdon. Don't forget, we're old friends and have always had a great working relationship."

Sen Qu Luo lowered his voice as he spoke.

"This year, J.K. Rowling's sixth Harry Potter book will be released in July."

The scholars will be focusing their efforts on Harry Potter, so it will be difficult for your new book to get many resources.

Why not leave it to us... We lost to Harry Potter two years ago with Notre Dame de Paris, don't you want to try again this year?"

"Um……"

It has to be said that Sen Quluo's words made Liu Jin somewhat tempted.

Furthermore, Langdon has a successful track record of publishing "Pirates of the Caribbean," so giving "The Hunger Games" to Langdon is not out of the question.

At least, Random House's influence in North America is no less than that of scholars.

“I agree in principle, but you can talk to Mela about the specifics.”

"of course!"

Sen Qulu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

She then informed Liu Jin of the first-week sales figures for "The Da Vinci Code".

The Da Vinci Code went on sale on Thursday and sold 530,000 copies in North America in just four days.

For a new book, this sales figure is already quite impressive.

Random House predicts that this will be another bestseller that sells over ten million copies that year.

"Amos, I really admire you now... Your name has become a guarantee of sales in the book market."

Sen Qulu expressed his feelings.

Liu Jin's lips curled up slightly, revealing a rather smug smile.

……