The Best Director

Chapter 128: The Ambition of Magical Yang

The male lead of ‘District 9’ will be played by little Robert Downey Jr.,

When Flame Films announced this latest update during this hot summer blockbuster season, media and fans immediately had a new topic to talk about. Little Robert Downey Jr.? Anyone who knows who this guy is also knows that Downey is synonymous with “drugs, problems, and willful debauchery.” His perpetual drug addiction turned him from a wildly popular star into a prisoner that both fans lament over and producers hesitate to approach.

And now, the amazing Wang Yang casts newly paroled Downey as the male lead? Supposedly, ‘District 9’ is going to be a major special effects production? Unbelievable! Everyone already knows that the two were cellmates at Rek Island prison, so maybe they formed a strong friendship, companions in misfortune… But seriously, isn’t Wang Yang afraid of stirring up trouble?

Anyway, Wang Yang’s fans are quite worried about him, not only about the filming of the movie but also that their bright and handsome idol might be led astray by little Robert Downey Jr., like learning to drink, smoke, or even do drugs… On fan websites, the female fans are all commenting, “If Yang turns out like that, I would be heartbroken!” and “That would be too terrible!”

During his latest interview with ‘Variety’ magazine, Wang Yang was also asked about “Downey’s drug addiction.” In the lounge of ‘Variety’ magazine, facing the beautiful brunette reporter Eva Smine, he replied, “I am not worried. I know Robert’s determination to beat drugs, and I trust him. What he needs most now is everyone’s encouragement and forgiveness. We support him, and then we will see a brand-new little Robert Downey Jr.”

After talking about the star of the movie, the conversation naturally turned to ‘District 9’ itself. Eva looked at Wang Yang with enthusiastic eyes, twirling the hair by her ear, and asked in a seductive voice, “Amazing Yang, what kind of story is ‘District 9,’ exactly?”

Um, I can only say…” Wang Yang smiled gently, instantly understanding that this woman was trying to use her charms to get more exclusive information. But ever since the audition period for ‘Juno,’ when they tested thousands of bright and beautiful girls, charm had no effect on him, unless it was Jessica using it. He took a sip of tea and said, “I cannot reveal anything for now. But since you’re asking…”

Actually, this was meant to be revealed in this very interview, as a part of early promotion. Looking at the hopeful Eva, he laughed and said, “It is an R-rated movie.” Speaking, he slapped his forehead in annoyance and mockingly said, “Done! I’ve said everything.”

Wow! R-rated?” Eva’s eyes widened with excitement, as she took notes and pressed, “Are you sure? Not G-rated but R-rated? You know, in everyone’s mind, Wang Yang represents sunshine, and his movies have no violence or obscenity… not even a kissing scene. Amazing Yang’s R-rated? What kind is that?”

Wang Yang couldn’t help but laugh out loud, because he remembered, three years ago, someone had said, “That kid doesn’t do horror movies? What a joke!” He spread his hands as he laughed and said, “I guess they must have forgotten about ‘Paranormal Activity.’ I remember at that time, someone said, ‘That kid is really dark!’ Ha, when did I become sunshine?”

They both laughed for a while, then he continued seriously, “I’ve also answered this question three years ago. I want to say ‘Paranormal Activity’ isn’t all there is tome; ‘High School Musical,’ ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,’ ‘Juno’—they’re not either. For me, each movie is a new attempt. Every different story has its own way of expression. This time, I’ll also show everyone another side of me, a new Wang Yang.”

Eva nodded, her eyes still electrified as she gazed at him, and asked, “Can you say what kind of R-rated content it is? Will it involve drugs?” She asked, naturally because of little Robert Downey Jr.

No, I can say it’s not that,” Wang Yang lifted his teacup, took a sip of the clear and slightly sweet tea, and smiled, “Just some violent scenes.”

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Violent scenes! Eva’s eyes lit up once more as she quickly took note, and pressed further, “You’ve previously revealed that ‘District 9’ has special effects, and now you’ve mentioned it’s an R-rated, violent movie. Can we understand this to be a big commercial special-effects hit?” She described with a smile, “Filled with bloody killings, maybe even with booming explosions…”

No no no, it cannot be classified as a commercial violent film. Definitely don’t think like that,” Wang Yang cut off and took a moment before explaining, “The movie may fall into many categories, but I have to say it is a drama! Whether it’s the violent scenes or beautiful special effects, it’s all to serve the movie’s plot, to make the story more compelling.”

He smiled, and added, “Many people have said this before, but I still have to say it again. What’s the most important thing about a movie? Story, story, story! Without this core, even the prettiest special effects are just pileups, meaningless.”

Having answered this question, Wang Yang had revealed all the information he had planned to, so Eva Smine’s charm offensive was now completely ineffective. However, she was very satisfied with the bits of information she had managed to obtain.

The latest issue of Variety hit the shelves, and media and fans following District 9 felt completely stumped, unable to fathom what kind of movie District 9 was! Because these elements seemed to be mutually exclusive: magical Yang, R- rated, violent… Could it be about beating up paparazzi? It was a mockumentary! But it also had big-budget special effects and couldn’t be categorized as a commercial film; it was a drama…

A high-budget cult movie? That was the guess by Yahoo Movies. A cult movie is, simply put, one that ignores the mainstream market and does things its own way. These films often have strange themes, unique shooting techniques, a strong personal style, and tend to be quite controversial. The characteristic of cult movies to ignore the market also means they don’t get a lot of funding, so they’re usually made on a small budget, but this does not stop classics from being born.

Whether in America, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, or Japan… cult movies are everywhere. And now the most famous “cult director” in Hollywood is undoubtedly Quentin Tarantino, the director of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction; and David Fincher, the director of Seyen and Fight Club.

Yahoo Movies Channel’s review wrote, “After three films in a scholarly style, we have indeed forgotten about magical Yang’s 18-year-old debut Paranormal Activity, and forgotten that it was a significantly meaningful cult film. It charted the course for DV movies, created a new form of mockumentary, and also a new marketing strategy ‘viral marketing’, from the film itself to outside of it, how Cult is it?!”

And thinking about it, actually, magical Yang’s cult heart has never stopped beating. High School Musical was a campus musical genre that no one dared to touch at that time, Juno was an as of yet unsuccessful teenage pregnancy theme, and only The Pursuit of Happyness is wholly academic. And now with the upcoming R-rated District 9, magical Yang seems to want to return. He talks about violence, he says it’s not just business… When he says it will be a mockumentary, we should have guessed, this is probably a high-budget cult movie.”

The final comment by the editor was filled with anticipation, “Warmth, tenderness, coziness? Put them aside for now. Perhaps a bizarre cult director is the real magical Yang.”

The idea that it was a cult movie garnered a lot of support from fans, and as for the content of the film, some fans guessed that District 9 was related to aliens because the title was very similar to a place, that is, the legendary Area 51 where the government supposedly researches aliens; and in the latest candid photos, Wang Yang was wearing a T-shirt with an alien spaceship design.

In the bright and spacious study, Wang Yang sat at the desk, and the printer spat out images one by one, all detailed alien design sketches. He picked them up and examined them carefully, full frontal, side, back views; the front of the head… Looking at the designs, he nodded his head in satisfaction from time to time.

This alien species was not just some beetle-like or shrimp-like creature. Its body structure was similar to humans, bipedal without tails, with skinny and ugly hands and feet covered not with smooth skin but with layers of insect shells of various shapes and colors. On the vital head part, they had long, beetle-like soft antennae on top of their heads, neck armor inspired by grasshoppers, and antennae on their noses like those of shrimps…

They all met the requirements, looking filthy and ugly, yet cooler compared to previous aliens. When Wang Yang finished reviewing images of Christopher Foersten and his son, he decided to choose this design. Leaning back in his chair, he mused to himself, “What should we call this alien race?”

However, compared to this minor issue, there was a bigger problem at present, that was all these aliens were just 2D images on paper, transforming them into 3D in the movie required the assistance of a special effects company.

Blue Sky Studios seemed like an obvious choice. They had often participated in some TV special effect productions and possessed excellent animation effects techniques, such as CGI animation technology, radiosity rendering techniques, model making, and skeleton and hair binding, and so on. But the special effects team for District 9 couldn’t choose Blue Sky, because of two issues that lay before them.

First, film effects were not the same as animation. Some techniques were transferrable, but others were different, especially the part where animation connected with reality. The reason why some effects look fake and some seamless has to do with this, and Blue Sky Studios didn’t have that piece of technology. Second, Blue Sky’s animators were busy with the final stages of Ice Age, and after Ice Age would come Ice Age 2 or some other animation, they didn’t have the time.

Therefore, “District 9” needed to find another special effects company, and the most famous company in this regard is naturally the “traditional powerhouse” Industrial Light & Magic, which George Lucas founded in 1975- Then, with “Star Wars,” it changed the meaning of the term “special effects.” Its technology is incredibly advanced, leading the trend, making it arguably the top special effects company; there’s also Digital Domain, founded by James Cameron and Stan Winston in 1990, which made a name for itself with “Titanic” in 1997-

Digital Domain’s core technologies include the digital compositing software NUKE, which seamlessly integrates CG models with real backgrounds. It’s almost the best in the industry at using Houdini, special effects software developed by Side Effects Software company, including the development of technologies such as dynamics plug-ins and fluid particle’s implicit surface models. These are its special skills.

Other companies include Sony Pictures Imageworks and the ESC Studio, which is now doing special effects for “The Matrix Reloaded,” as well as SGI (Silicon Graphics Inc.), which has participated in movies like “Toy Story” and “Jurassic Park.” However, it is not a movie special effects company but a company that produces high-performance computers; its graphic processing system technology is very powerful, even the US Air Force and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) are using it.

The special effects of a film, unless done by a giant like Industrial Light & Magic, require the use of many special effects companies: one handles the waves, another takes care of the animals, one is responsible for rendering, another for seamless integration… In fact, often in a big special effects film, even Industrial Light & Magic doesn’t dare to say, “I will take care of it all.” The still-in-production “Star Wars Prequel 2” involves 3 other companies; “The Matrix” had 7, and “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” released during this year’s Christmas season, had 8 companies in addition to Weta Workshop participating in the production of special effects.

District 9″ will certainly not be an exception, but no matter how many companies are involved in the end, there is one company that leads the work during pre-production, production, and post-production. It’s also the special effects team that follows the film crew, and the Oscar for Best Visual Effects is awarded to it, which is exactly the company that “District 9” now needs.

Seeking out Industrial Light & Magic? Looking at Digital Domain? Wang Yang had already considered this question, but he immediately realized that he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to, he wanted Flame Films to own a special effects company. Perhaps it was ambition or maybe aspiration, but why not do it? He was all too aware of the importance of future special effects technology, and the future is not far away. Now is the time of rapid development of digital technology; the later you establish a company, the more difficult it becomes.

Setting up a special effects company seems not too difficult; if there’s no talent, you can recruit, if there’s no technology, you can buy, like the special effects software Houdini. But in fact, it’s not that easy. The basic software can be bought, but how to use it, how to develop it further, these technologies cannot be bought. Each company survives on these proprietary technologies that make them part of the special effects production team for a blockbuster.

And the developers of these technologies usually are not available for recruitment, as they own their own companies or open companies in partnership with directors, like Stan Winston and James Cameron, Richard Taylor and Peter Jackson.

But, after all, Wang Yang had spent too limited time in the film industry, and he had not been in contact with these special effects experts before, so after much thought, he finally decided to approach Robert Zemeckis. Although Zemeckis is not a special effects master, he is a pioneer of motion capture technology and also has extensive connections in the field of digital technology!

Just as in the past his grandfather had roped in old Mr. Wu to get ahold of his family’s secret sauce by bringing him into the fold, Wang Yang also roped in the once idol, now half teacher and half friend Robert Zemeckis, with arguments that included “investing heavily in the development of motion capture technology.” This was not just flattery. The aliens in “District 9,

especially the father-son duo Christopher Foersten, required this technology for all their gestures and movements, and naturally, the more advanced, the better.

However, Robert Zemeckis had been invited to partner in opening a company more than once or twice, and besides, he had good relationships with Warner Brothers and Disney and could do motion capture with large companies investing one or two hundred million, so he was still considering Wang Yang’s enthusiastic invitation.

Yet, Wang Yang thought that whether Robert agreed to join or not, it wouldn’t affect his determination to establish a special effects company; even if Robert joined, the company would gain resources in terms of connections, not direct technical support. But the company needed technology! How could it be obtained?

Actually, there was a feasible way, which he was currently working on, and that was to invest in and acquire a decent, talented and technologically equipped special effects company. Share technology with Blue Sky Studios first, then use money to expand its scale, including buying the necessary technical software and recruiting enough staff and talent, and then make a name with a movie.

Then, by continuously producing special effects for Flame Films and other companies’ movies and continually developing technology, it could take a healthy developmental path, seeking opportunities to become a large company.

Fortunately, there were many small special effects companies open to investment; but unfortunately, their core technologies were insufficient to quickly expand into a company capable of serving as the special effects team for “District 9-” The suitable company was still being sought by Mark Strong, and the search was not limited to the United States, with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all under consideration.

Looking at the design sketches of aliens, Wang Yang fell into deep thought. Integrating a special effects company was not an easy task… At that moment, Danny, bursting with enthusiasm, charged in with a tennis ball in its mouth. It nudged his leg with its head, clearly meaning “Play with me!” Wang Yang smiled, put down the design sketches, and stood up, saying, “Hey, buddy, I don’t have time to play with you right now.”

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, pulled it open, took Danny’s ball, and threw it forcefully onto the lawn outside. The dog dashed after it as Wang Yang folded his arms and watched, chuckling softly, “You like playing games, don’t you?”

Games? Wang Yang suddenly frowned and a long-existing vague idea in his mind surfaced clearly—video games! That’s an independent industry, as well as a peripheral of films. Past, present, and future all have these film-adapted games, although almost none are successful in terms of both acclaim and sales. But, he thought, with digital technology developing so rapidly, not only film visuals were advancing, but game graphics would also become increasingly impressive.

As the common ground between the two increases, once the gaming industry figures out how to adapt films, their relationship will become closer. Sales of DVDs and game discs will affect each other… Perhaps video games could become an important peripheral. Moreover, from a business perspective, film companies should not overlook any peripherals because earning more or less is still earning money, and it’s also a form of promotion.

GO!” Wang Yang mused while throwing the tennis ball, fetched by Danny, once again, thinking that “Ice Age” could completely be made into an adventure-type game or a family casual game, while “District 9″ could be produced as an action or first-person shooter game, launching in tandem with the movie release…

What a great idea! He suddenly felt excited, the reason was simple—he loved video games! Movies, basketball, games… who doesn’t have a few hobbies? He had played many classic games and also tried a few movie-adapted games, fully understanding why they failed—they were just poorly made.

The main issue was that film companies didn’t value this peripheral. Currently, collaborations between films and games were basically just film companies licensing out the rights to game companies, but the big companies weren’t interested. So, they often cooperated with some small company or established their own studio, resulting in both game systems and storylines being unenjoyable. Of course, they didn’t care—as long as they made a US Dollar, it was a win.

If ‘District 9’ were made into a game…” Wang Yang said to himself, watching Danny enjoying the game as it ran back from a distance, “It must not be shoddily made! The movie should be good to watch, and the game should be fun to play!” He smiled, took out his phone, and dialed a number, saying, “Hi, Mark! I’m thinking of acquiring a game development company.”

Mark on the other end was taken aback and said in surprise, “My boss, we are a film company, aren’t we?” He quickly understood Wang Yang’s intention and said, “I also think the company can develop video game peripherals, but boss, you know our special effects company is still in the works, who knows how much it will end up costing? The Vancouver studios just started construction as well. Shouldn’t we hold off on games for a bit?”

No, there’s no need,” Wang Yang replied as he walked toward the lawn. He thought for a moment and then spoke into the phone, “It’s not an acquisition by Flame Film, but my personal acquisition, and it wouldn’t take much to buy a game company, right? I’m not planning to buy EA.” His personal account had just received an influx of 15 million before taxes, and since it was just sitting in the bank, why not make another investment?

In Hollywood, many people liked to invest in real estate or start their own fashion brands; but he had no interest in those. However, video games intrigued him greatly. He thought 15 million should be enough to invest in a decent game development company, and if that wasn’t sufficient, he could draw some funds from Flame Film.

Your personal acquisition? Wow, that’s really exciting, it looks like we’ll soon be able to play your games!” Mark exclaimed with a laugh. Wang Yang took a seat on a wooden bench in the garden and said with a smile, “Cut it out! I don’t know how to develop games, but I do know how to play them, and if they’re not fun, I won’t let them hit the market.” Mark chuckled again before saying seriously, “Yang, you’re full of energy, but I can’t handle all these activities. Maybe I should introduce some agents to you?”

Wang Yang was well aware that the affairs of Flame Film and the special effects company were enough to keep the CEO busy, so he planned to leave the game company to someone else. He nodded and replied, “OK!”

PS: In 2007, Disney and Robert Zemeckis jointly established Image Movers Digital, a studio focusing on motion capture technology films, but the box office failures of “A Christmas Carol” and the produced “Mars Needs Moms disappointed Disney greatly, leading to the studio’s closure in January 2011. However, there was actually no issue with the technology—it was cutting-edge —but audiences never really warmed up to those live-action 3D animated films. “The Polar Express” and “Beowulf” were not considered successful. Robert Zemeckis has recently announced a return to live-action films, collaborating with Denzel Washington on “Flight.”