Chapter 727

The reason Lu Yan He could be so assertive (though, of course, a polite, non-aggressive assertiveness) in front of Zebby Doyle was that he had several projects currently in collaboration with Parameter.

They were in a relationship of deeply bound mutual interests.

Zebby Doyle knew his value very well—otherwise, he wouldn't have launched so many collaborative projects with him all at once.

For the executives at these Hollywood film companies, as long as they consider you a talented creator who can also bring them profit, OK, their circle culture grants this creator the right to be "temperamental," "unruly," or even "difficult to deal with."

Lu Yan He also discovered this through his repeated communications with them.

Sometimes, one must be "uncompromising" and "decisive" to make them truly take a step back and consider whether they can accept his demands if they agree to them.

Lu Yan He believed that Zebby Doyle was not the type of film company executive who discriminated against Asians and Chinese people.

In practical terms, in *Doomsday*, Jiang Jun was one of the two male leads; in *Buried*, Li Zhibai was the sole lead; in *Source Code*, Wen Minglan was one of the leads. Zebby Doyle had indeed not replaced these Chinese and Asian roles with anyone else.

Lu Yan He understood that Zebby Doyle was genuinely concerned about the candidate Yan Liang.

*Speed* was not a low-budget film like *Buried*.

The original work had a production budget of 30 million USD even in the 90s; adjusted for today, of course, it could be shot for 30 million, but if one wanted higher quality and more impressive big scenes—especially that final subway station sequence—the production budget would certainly have to increase.

From Zebby Doyle's perspective, the male lead was very important; it had to be an actor who could carry the box office.

Lu Yan He did not know how much confidence the success of *Buried* could actually bring Zebby Doyle, but it was highly likely it would end up with him wanting Li Zhibai to star in *Speed*.

Lu Yan He thought for a moment and felt it was necessary for Yan Liang to first shoot a film that wins big with a small budget, to prove that he could also be a box-office draw in the North American market, and to prove that he was not just a television actor.

Was there such a film?

It didn't need a particularly high box office, as long as the return on investment reached a handsome figure.

Lu Yan He searched his mind for a long time.

*Rocky*, *Saw*... these were all very famous films in cinema history that won big with small budgets.

But Lu Yan He was not confident he could shoot them. The former was a film completely tied to Sylvester Stallone's personal charm; as for the latter, Lu Yan He had only heard of it and hadn't seen it, so he couldn't "replicate" it.

Lu Yan He's head ached from thinking.

Helpless.

Then, at this moment, the script for *Dumb and Dumber* popped into his mind.

Back then, this was a script he had prepared for Yan Liang and Li Zhibai.

But it wasn't filmed later on.

What if he adapted it back into an English script?

No, no, this was a pure comedy, and the character image involved "playing ugly," which was not conducive to Yan Liang matching the young, handsome, and valiant image in *Speed*.

So difficult.

Lu Yan He was in agony.

But—

He suddenly froze.

Pure comedy wouldn't work, but what about action-comedy?

Speaking of Chinese kung fu movies, one could never get around Jet Li and Jackie Chan.

The two of them had filmed too many classics—

But, no.

Lu Yan He realized again.

Their movies' plots were not the selling point at all; the selling point was their kung fu.

Only by layering other elements onto their kung fu did they achieve a refreshing style.

Lu Yan He could certainly try his best to replicate some scenes based on his memory, but he would still need to find a real stunt coordinator to choreograph the action, find a suitable director to communicate the filming style, and then, he still wouldn't know what it would look like in the end.

It wasn't as if Lu Yan He hadn't seen many clumsy imitations.

For this type of genre film, you either find someone particularly brilliant who understands this genre, tell them the idea, and let them run with it, or you just give up; a clumsy imitation can only result in something neither fish nor fowl.

Lu Yan He wrote many names in his notebook.

Zhou Ruo saw this and asked curiously, "Brother, what are you writing?"

Lu Yan He said, "Thinking about a suitable script."

Zhou Ruo was somewhat surprised.

"Right now?"

Lu Yan He came back to his senses.

That's right, he was on the set of *Storm Calmer No. 1*, he shouldn't be distracted.

He closed his notebook.

Then, he looked at Zhou Ruo and suddenly froze.

Who said he had to find an action movie for Yan Liang?

A flash of light suddenly crossed Lu Yan He's mind—

It was a very distant memory fragment.

A classic case of winning big with a small budget.

*Flypaper*.

The characteristic of *Flypaper* was the twists, twists upon twists.

And it was a genre film, starting with a "bank robbery" incident, nine people playing "cat and mouse," a dojo in a snail shell.

This meant that it was another easy-to-film movie.

Filmed entirely on a soundstage, with only a few scenes, nine actors acting their hearts out according to the script.

This also meant that as long as the script was finished and a suitable production team was found as soon as possible, filming could begin; its pre-production wouldn't take a long time.

After Lu Yan He made up his mind, he immediately started working on the script.

He really spent a lot of effort to restrain himself from writing the script on set, only allowing himself to write for a few hours after work back at the hotel.

In three days, the script for *Flypaper* was written. Although he didn't remember much of the plot, Lu Yan He remembered the core elements of the story: "no one is innocent," and behind the "twists upon twists" was "dog-eat-dog."

Following this logic, he quickly wrote out the story. For this type of genre film, as the saying goes, it's actually an "idea" movie. The specific plot can be written however one wants; all changes stem from the same source.

After the script was finished, he handed it to Wang Biao to register the copyright.

Afterwards, Lu Yan He gave it to a translator to translate into English, and subsequently, the script was sent to Zebby Doyle of Parameter and Schmidt Lawley of Green Valley.

These two companies were now Lu Yan He's preferred partners for filming English-language movies.

"This is an English-language film I intend to produce myself through Linghe."

The production budget for this film didn't need to be very high; in order to produce this film as quickly as possible, Lu Yan He decided to have Linghe shoot it themselves to reduce various external problems.

As a result, both Zebby Doyle and Schmidt Lawley proposed that they hoped to acquire this film.

Clearly, the idea for this film had moved them.

Only then did Lu Yan He tell them that for the male lead of this film, he would still be looking for Yan Liang to play the role. Of course, unlike *Speed*, this was an ensemble film; although Yan Liang was the lead, he didn't have significantly more screen time than the other actors.

Lu Yan He just wanted to prove to Zebby Doyle through this film that Yan Liang could still sell well at the box office in North America as the male lead.

Zebby Doyle was stunned.

What exactly was wrong with Lu Yan He? Why did he insist on having Yan Liang as the male lead?

Lu Yan He didn't care what Zebby Doyle thought.

He gave the script to Zebby Doyle and Schmidt Lawley first just to see if this story still moved these film company executives.

Facts proved that, well, a good movie is a good movie in any time and space. A good story is the same. A good story concept is a gold-digging tool in the eyes of these executives.

Of course, Lu Yan He wasn't arrogant enough to think he could just roll up his sleeves and start shooting an English-language film by himself.

Lu Yan He contacted Mukan Zorge.

"Come help me produce a film."

Mukan Zorge: "..."

He was busy with the post-production of *The Mist 2*.

Lu Yan He said, "I need you; after the post-production of *The Mist 2* is finished, I need your help with how to shoot a movie in Hollywood."

Mukan Zorge: "... What do you need me to do?"

"Everything." Lu Yan He smiled, feeling quite embarrassed, "I haven't shot a movie in Hollywood, and I don't know what the pitfalls are."

Mukan Zorge: "For the sake of you writing *Get Out*, I can only agree to help you."

"Great, I'll send you the script; help me see which director is suitable to direct this film."

Mukan Zorge: "..."

Asking him to help find a director right off the bat?

Lu Yan He called Wan Qingqing back.

"You will be in overall charge of this project," Lu Yan He said to Wan Qingqing. "To be honest, I don't know how to shoot a movie in the United States, and I don't know what processes one has to go through to produce a movie in the US; this is Linghe's first attempt."

Wan Qingqing was completely stunned.

Huh?

She had never thought that she would have the opportunity to be an executive producer for a movie so early.

"I've invited Mukan Zorge to be the producer; you can ask him if there's anything you don't understand. Of course, what you need to do now is to first come up with a budget," Lu Yan He said. "I hope to produce this film with the minimum cost."

Wan Qingqing's head was spinning.

It wasn't that she hadn't participated in production work, but for her age, leading a production team independently would have been at least five years away, so she hadn't prepared for it at all.

However, she also knew very clearly that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"Little Brother Lu, can I go find some friends I'm familiar with to build the production team?" Wan Qingqing asked. "I definitely can't handle it alone."

"Of course," Lu Yan He nodded. "I said you are in overall charge of this project; do it according to your ideas. However, before the budget is finalized, I hope you won't make me sign too many checks."

Wan Qingqing: "Okay, I will seize this opportunity!"

She came back to her senses, let out a small, joyful cheer, and went off full of energy.

Starting like this with a ragtag team?

Worried?

Ridiculous?

Lu Yan He's heart was filled with unease.

But, it's fine, at worst, it'll just be a flop. He comforted himself; if you don't know how to lead a team, you can only work yourself to death. If you want a good, capable team, there's no other way but to train them through real combat.

Wan Qingqing had been his assistant for a year and had spent a few years representing Linghe in the US, accumulating her connections and industry experience.

If you ask if she has experience producing a movie, definitely not.

But if you ask if she has the ability to produce a movie, it can be said that she already possesses the ability to engage in real combat.

As for whether she actually has the ability in the end, we'll have to wait and see.

August, a month that should have been spent quietly on set filming, became a month of chaos.

In between, he also found time to attend the wedding of Huang Kai and Xin Zixing.

At the end of August, the project *Flypaper* was first learned of by the media and exposed.

Wan Qingqing's movements in Hollywood couldn't be hidden from those media outlets.

The news that a film written by Lu Yan He was contacting actors in Hollywood naturally spread through agents.

The news spread back to the country.

Everyone, besides continuing to marvel at Lu Yan He's tentacle-monster speed at writing scripts, was also curious if Lu Yan He would act in this English script.

Not long after, it was first exposed by *Variety* in the US that the first confirmed lead actor for *Flypaper* was Yan Liang, the actor who played Hu Fan in *Friends*.

"Yes, Arne, you can completely tell that this is definitely a very popular story."

On the phone, Lu Yan He was talking to Arne Bogut, the male actor from the first *The Mist*, about the film *Flypaper*.

"I don't know how much box office this film can get in North America, but I hope this film can have a good box office performance globally," Lu Yan He said. "Yan Liang is my friend and one of the most popular male actors in China. Besides him, another actress I plan to invite, Caina, is one of the most famous actresses in Thailand. Their popularity in the Asian region can help *Flypaper* open up the market here in Asia."

Arne Bogut asked, "Have you contacted Lily?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I have another movie I'm planning to invite Yan Liang and Lily to star in, and I don't want the audience to feel aesthetic fatigue from their combination," Lu Yan He said bluntly.

Arne Bogut: "Oh? Is Lily going to participate in your other movie?"

"Yes."

"You kept the news really tight; I didn't hear a single whisper."

"Haha, but I contacted you very quickly for *Flypaper*; it's a good script, and you are a good actor; I think you will definitely like it."

"Lu, I trust you; I'll read the script carefully again," Arne Bogut said. "I'll give you an answer as soon as possible, how about that?"

"No problem, then I'll wait for your news."

As a result, while Lu Yan He was still racking his brain over the film's cast, Darren Wilson suddenly contacted him.

He also came for the film *Flypaper*.

He blamed Lu Yan He for starting a project without prioritizing people from his client list.

Lu Yan He suddenly froze.

An epiphany.

That's right, why didn't he let Darren Wilson help?

He knew far more actors than Lu Yan He did.

Lu Yan He didn't stand on ceremony and said, "Darren, this is the first film I'm producing in Hollywood, so I don't want to take risks; I want to find actors whose salaries aren't high but who can bring help to the film."

Upon hearing this, Darren Wilson's expression changed.

Are you kidding? He makes money by taking a commission.

If the salary isn't high, he won't make much either.

Lu Yan He said, "However, I think this film should be able to bring career advancement to the participating actors."

Darren Wilson looked at Lu Yan He suspiciously.

"You definitely haven't read the script yet, right?" Lu Yan He said with a smile. "You'll know once you read the script. The actors who can participate in this film—of course, I know Hollywood's A-list actors definitely won't come to act in it, but if there's anyone with a very keen eye who sees the outstanding parts of this script, they will definitely gain a representative work of their career."

Lu Yan He was also shocked that he was becoming increasingly thick-skinned enough to rave about himself.

No choice, Hollywood negotiations are all in this style.

Always "what I'm shooting is a masterpiece," and opening with "this will definitely become a classic."

Darren Wilson seemed to buy into this.

Of course, the most critical thing was that a script written by Lu Yan He was already at a level comparable to the "Black List" in Hollywood.

After several projects like *Source Code*, *Red Eye*, and *Buried* successively impressed top-tier companies like Parameter and Green Valley and were launched simultaneously, everyone had to look up to Lu Yan He, this already...