The Best Director-Chapter 484 - : Late Summer

Chapter 484: Chapter 484: Late Summer

As time stepped into August, the scorching summer reached its final month.

The “Superman Returns” released for 5 weeks had only garnered $188 million/$327 million box office (North America/Worldwide), the disastrous failure of this blockbuster made Warner Bros taste the bitterness once again. The new Superman, Tom Welling, who was initially brought to the big screen by the amazing Yeung, instantly became the new generation’s box office poison, being ridiculed by media as “Superman who lost his magic powers”.

Although Welling was once a super popular teen idol, his long-term residence in Vancouver with Jamie White after they got married significantly lowered his exposure; the superhero image development plan that was made because of the prolonged “Superman Returns” project didn’t work out much, and his other comedy and horror films were mediocre in performance. Now, suffering such a heavy blow, “Superman Returns 2” was directly axed by WB, and his career prospects were indeed worrying.

“Hoping MY can bring Tom back on track!!” Many of Welling’s movie fans flocked to Wang Yang’s blog, FF’s official website, and other places requesting and persuading Wang Yang to lend him a helping hand. There were numerous pleas like Diana’s “Yang, please, let Welling win an Oscar!” Indeed, if Wang Yang made a move, it was believed that even if Welling couldn’t get an Oscar, a nomination for MTV Movie Awards’ Most Popular Actor would surely not be missed.

Welling wasn’t happy about his career setback, but he didn’t resort to drowning his sorrows in alcohol, as he wasn’t particularly ambitious by nature and had long been satisfied with his achievements and life. On the other hand, compared to acting, Welling gradually wanted to become an outstanding producer and director, just like the amazing Yeung! He planned to develop in this direction in the future, hoping to possess the charm like Yeung.

“Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest” was undoubtedly the craziest movie of this summer. It smoothly took the crown for the week of July 7-13 with an opening week box office of $196 million, and in 4 weeks it had already raked in $368 million/$755 million. Moreover, with many big box office territories like France, Italy, Spain either just starting to show or yet to premiere, according to box office statistics agencies and media predictions, “Pirates of the Caribbean 2” was expected to potentially top $1 billion worldwide!

In that case, this mixed-reviewed movie (critics scores of 54%/40%/86%) with a production budget of $225 million would become the fourth movie to reach the $1 billion box office milestone. Nevertheless, in the face of the mountainous records of “Firefly”, it hadn’t broken any.

For “The Deceased”, this was truly good news, Keira Knightley’s popularity was at an unprecedented peak. This English rose was currently filming “Pirates of the Caribbean 3”, while her parts in “The Deceased” were slated to be shot in September.

Despite the pirates’ strength, they couldn’t retain the North American box office championship because “Furious Cars 2” was equally fierce! Flame Films’ summer screen strategy was once again a comprehensive triumph! This action-packed car-racing sequel continued to sell big, director Justin Lin continued to defy physics with his crazy style, sending all sorts of vehicles flying and crashing, pushing the adrenaline levels of the audience to the limit!

It opened with a smashing $109 million box office, defeating “Dead Man’s Chest”‘s $90.66 million, and in 3 weeks it had already taken in $186 million/$471 million. With its current trend and scale of overseas releases, surpassing $600 million seemed inevitable, and its production cost was $100 million US dollars.

“It goes beyond reality, but it’s a living, breathing comic book,” commented Richard Roeper from “Ebert & Roeper.” “Furious Cars 2” had a Rotten Tomatoes score of 75%/71%/85%, a slight decline compared to the first installment, mainly due to a lack of surprises, but both the critical and audience realms praised it as a very tasty bucket of popcorn. Roger Ebert scored it 3/4 stars, “What clever elements gathered in this 120-minute film? Direct actors that hit the mark, incredible action scenes, and ignored laws of physics, not bad.”…

Justin Lin, who was already on fire, became even hotter. In Hollywood, it was not those artistic directors but commercial directors like him who could stand on their own, who were the most popular. Of course, if they messed up, their careers could plummet to the depths, possibly unable to recover.

Now, Justin Lin could proudly shout: “I’m the hot shot!” Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony/Columbia, and other studios were handing him contracts… but he wasn’t going anywhere. Of the “young generation of Chinese directors’ big three” Wang, Lin, and Wen, only the two flame men were left, with Wen & Warner shooting “Dead Silence” funded by Universal, while Lin felt very comfortable staying with Flame Films.

In addition to the remake of the Korean film “Oldboy”, Justin Lin would also be directing the no-surprise sequel “Furious Cars 3” for FF. Unlike “The Hangover”, the racing series was a long-term brand plan, with 4, 5, 6, and beyond… as for whether Lin Yibin would direct the saga after the trilogy was something no one knew yet.

With just a year between 1 and 2, “Furious Cars 3” would slow down to a release date in August 2009, not only because Lin Yibin had to produce “Oldboy”, but also because it was part of FF’s “chain plan”, the third installment was actually going to be called “Furious Cars 3D”. Maybe by then, Wang Yang’s 3D movies would be leading the pack, or maybe the “3D battle” would be fiercely contentious. Regardless, an insanely popular old-brand racing movie was speeding out! The global film market would probably stir up a huge wave again.

It’s hard to say whether Flame Films was a small independent studio or a big production company, because now their output of blockbusters was no less than those traditional major studios, with budgets easily exceeding a hundred million. On one side, “The Green Hornet,” which took four months to shoot, had just wrapped up, and on the other side, “Iron Man” started on schedule, expected to take another four months to shoot.

Surrounded by long-standing skepticism, Jon Favreau, fueled by sheer determination, quietly picked up the director’s megaphone and yelled “Action.” The trust and encouragement from the magical Wang Yang gave him infinite strength and instilled full confidence in Robert Downey Jr., Rachel McAdams, and other main creators and actors.

At the same time, the Nolan family, along with “newly minted Oscar-winning editor” Lee Smith and other post-production staff, completed the work on “The Prestige.” FF had sent the 130-minute film to the MPAA for rating, and the Nolan family had formally started the preparations for “The Dark Knight.”

These days, Wang Yang was naturally busy with the shooting of two films, occasionally distracted by disputes from the outside world.

However, once someone’s dedication and passion reach a certain level, they achieve total concentration that nothing can disturb and an indefatigable energy. That was exactly the case with Wang Yang—he was running around the set all day, piled with desk work at night, and had to keep up with the production of other films he was supervising. His wife and children were also beckoning to him, and though he should have felt tired, he was full of vigor, as if he could take down several tigers.

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After just over a month of this frenzied pace, some of the crew members at both filming locations were struggling, while the busiest director seemed to be unaffected.

“Heath” Ledger’s “prematurely” exacerbated insomnia probably had nothing to do with the filming pace, purely because he couldn’t shake off “Billy” after work. In his words, “My brain just won’t stop ticking.” These past few days, he had only been able to sleep a little at a time, and that was with the aid of sleeping pills. Luckily, Michelle Williams was watching over him, as was Wang Yang; if they hadn’t been filming in New York, and if the director hadn’t been such a magical entity, who knows what might have happened.

Wang Yang felt it was his responsibility to help Heath lead a normal life. Even if they weren’t friends, he didn’t want to see a young actor of great talent fall deeper into drug dependence. Although the situations weren’t exactly the same, one must not forget River Phoenix. Moreover, Michelle had a point when she scolded that it indeed was he who kept giving Heath roles filled with melancholy, pain, and perversion—Ennis, Blue Glove, Billy, Joker… In fact, he also had his company plan to acquire the remake rights for “The Crow,” intending to offer the leading role of “Eric Draven,” originally played by Brandon Lee in the ’94 version, to Heath.

If anything happened to Ledger, Wang Yang truly dared not imagine it, especially when facing Michelle and little Mathilda. Hence, in the scarce leisure time on weekends, he had invited Ledger’s family out several times to shop and play together with both families.

“This morning, just like normal, I walked into the baby room, and Mathilda was already awake. She was propped up against the crib’s railing, and then… she suddenly spoke!”

The morning sun shone brightly, and the atmosphere in Washington Square Park was both relaxed and bustling. Wang Yang and Heath pushed the strollers, with Jessica and Michelle walking beside them. The two babies in the strollers looked ahead with their round eyes at the beautiful forest landscape. All of them wore happy smiles, and Michelle shared excitedly while walking, “She said ‘Mama!’ Oh—! She said ‘Mama!’ It’s so wonderful!” Heath chuckled joyously, bereft of any signs of gloom or pain, “When I was going out, I thought I heard ‘Dada,’ too.”

At that moment, Mathilda in the stroller turned her head to look at Keke, who made a “ya” noise, and Mathilda immediately looked ahead. When Keke made another “ya” noise, Mathilda looked her way again…

Hearing his daughter’s voice, Wang Yang couldn’t help but think back to a few days ago when he had walked into the baby room alone. Suddenly Keke called out to him, “BABA, BABA!” He was naturally overjoyed and was about to shout for Jessica to come over when he suddenly thought about how she took care of their daughter every day. Shouldn’t Keke have called mommy first? It shouldn’t be like this… So Wang Yang, suppressing his ecstasy, quietly taught the baby, “Don’t you remember how I taught you? Mommy? Mommy?” However, Keke sweetly laughed and called, “Dada!” Then quickly, she stopped calling out altogether.

Upon hearing Keke’s “ya” noise, Jessica couldn’t help but recall that day when she walked into the baby room alone, and Keke suddenly called her, “MAMA, MAMA!” She was so thrilled she almost couldn’t stand straight, and as she rushed over, nearly knocking over the baby’s crib, she was about to scream aloud but then suddenly thought of his long anticipation and hard work. Wouldn’t it be even better if Keke called daddy first? So, she sweetly coaxed her daughter, “Dear, can you say ‘Dada’? ‘Dada’? ‘Dada’?” Yet Keke crisply laughed and shouted, “Mama!” Then quickly, she stopped calling out altogether.

“Hehe!” Michelle wasn’t boasting; the two babies were separated by an age difference of a month and a half. She continued laughing, “Mathilda just said it twice, and when I asked her to say it again, she wouldn’t, nor would she say other words, until now. But we’re already very satisfied!” Heath nodded with undisguised pride, “Yes.”

“Wow.” Wang Yang and Jessica exchanged glance with a sigh, feeling neither envy nor a touch of anxiousness. The two said in unison, “Keke still can’t call daddy/mommy yet.” (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets on QiDian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)