Chapter 291: The Three-Body Problem? First, Shoot a Mecha Movie to Get Some Practice!

Interstellar has entered its final production phase, and Xu Can still trusts Nolan's editing.

He laid out his editing strategy, leaving Christopher Nolan to oversee it in the post-production studio.

He could simply review it later and fully free himself for other activities.

This wasn't originally Nolan's film—he'd expected Nolan wouldn't willingly come to help.

Yet Nolan's passion for this film even surpassed that for The Dark Knight Rises.

He accepted only a base salary of five million as producer and co-director, refused all box-office royalties, and willingly became Xu Can's servant.

In Nolan's own words:

"Interstellar is absolutely a masterpiece of the 21st century! Xu, I can't wait to see the final cut! I'll give my utmost effort to perfect the post-production!"

That one sentence was enough.

Star River Digital is fully responsible for the special effects production of Interstellar.

They are collaborating with Chinese astronomers and Nobel laureate Kip Thorne to jointly create the black hole's visual effects.

At this time, the Event Horizon Telescope has not yet begun observing black holes; it won't capture humanity's first image of the M87 black hole until ten years later, in 2019.

The world will see the appearance of a black hole through imagery for the first time.

When that black hole image is finally revealed, people will be stunned once again.

Xu Can's film simulated the true image of a black hole back in 2009—ten years earlier!

People have already seen what a black hole looks like on IMAX giant screens!

Everyone seeing it for the first time is deeply awed by Gargantua!

At this moment, Xu Can's team is modeling and rendering with the most advanced technology available today.

After two years of refinement and Xu Can's lavish investment, Star River Digital has quietly surpassed the special effects technology of 2014 and is sufficient to achieve the intended effect.

As for Xu Can, his focus has shifted more toward promoting the Marvel Cinematic Universe and planning his next film.

Originally, Xu Can intended to leverage the experience from the Interstellar crew,

thoroughly organize and summarize the technical essentials of hard sci-fi films set in space and interstellar environments,

so he could better shoot another hard sci-fi film—The Three-Body Problem!

This is one of Xu Can's most valued plans, ranked S-class among Star River Entertainment's future projects.

Even The Avengers Alliance is merely an A+ project.

This shows Xu Can's devotion to The Three-Body Problem.

This is the Han Chinese sci-fi romance 090—the hard sci-fi with Han Chinese style that will win the Hugo Award and sweep the world.

Liu Cixin's Three-Body Problem trilogy has always been Xu Can's favorite sci-fi work.

He wants to do better than the 2022 Three-Body Problem TV series, bringing the trilogy to the big screen,

making it a flagship trilogy surpassing The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, The Dark Knight, and The Godfather!

Each of the three films corresponds to one of the three novels,

with theatrical versions at three hours each, director's cuts at four hours, totaling twelve hours—tight enough to tell the entire story.

Xu Can has even planned the release schedule: aim for the first film in 2010, the second in 2011, the third in 2012.

By then, Liu Cixin's original novels will just have been published, and the film releases will boost novel sales, creating a win-win situation.

Recently, Xu Can has been in contact with Liu Cixin, negotiating the copyright issue.

Liu Cixin, knowing Xu Can is directing, has been highly enthusiastic, and their talks have gone smoothly.

But Liu Cixin, aware that Xu Can's Interstellar is about to premiere, wants to see how Xu Can approaches hard sci-fi.

If the film turns out to be pure entertainment like Iron Man or Spider-Man, Liu Cixin might reconsider.

If it's a thoughtful, sincere work like I Am Not a Pharmacist or Source Code, Liu Cixin won't haggle over price—he'll hand over the copyright outright.

Xu Can isn't in a hurry; Liu Cixin has already signed a preliminary agreement and won't entertain any third-party copyright deals until negotiations with Xu Can conclude.

The Three-Body Problem IP is now firmly in Xu Can's hands.

Aside from this S-class project, Xu Can has no other new film plans for now—he intends to take a break this summer, then launch The Three-Body Problem with a renewed spirit.

If a good script comes along, he might try shooting it—for example, to hone long takes and one-shot techniques, he could attempt Birdman.

After The Three-Body Problem project concludes, Xu Can will fully integrate and internalize the "external force" of his cheat ability into his own "internal power."

He'll then be able to master any cinematic language and storytelling ability without relying on cheats.

At that point, he can experiment with original subjects, no longer needing to copy future films.

After 2010, the film (afca) industry has seen less and less innovation,

and original IP with good stories has become rare.

Films that are both critically acclaimed and commercially successful are mostly sequels or spin-offs.

Especially Hollywood—it's getting worse and worse.

People seem to have lost their capacity for innovation.

If Xu Can merely indulges in copying past films, he will eventually run out of talent.

He is still young; if he rests on his laurels, he could enjoy a lifetime of luxury.

But Xu Can, having crossed over, is not content with this.

He wants to leave a unique mark on this world—even if only he knows it exists!

Xu Can can absolutely bring to the screen some works from his past life that were impossible to realize!

For example, a war against Japan, filmed in the style of Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and Saving Private Ryan—a hard-core, gritty war film of real blood and flesh,

making people abandon the absurd tropes of those ridiculous anti-Japanese war dramas,

truly feel the brutality of the war and the desperate struggle of the Han Chinese people, and expose to the world the beastly acts of the invaders!

When that happens, even if Japan tries to ignore this history, the whole world will remind them of what they once did!

"The Eight Hundred," "Jin Ling Jin Ling," "The Thirteen Flowers of Jin Ling," "Seediq Bale," "Assembly"…

These films have tried, but none have had the world-shaking influence.

Xu Can wants to take this direction and try making an original film.

In addition, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" brought the world a touch of the cultivation of Chinese martial-arts culture, but that is still not enough.

Xu Can could try to create a martial-arts or xianxia work that influences the world,

so that everyone can feel the charm of Eastern fantasy.

When people think of the East, it will no longer be ninjas and samurai, but sword immortals, Dao cultivation…

This is also a direction Xu Can can try.