When Leonardo heard Spielberg's question, he almost subconsciously asked, "Steven, do you have any thoughts of remaking this movie?"
Hollywood did not pay much attention to Hong Kong movies. The major Hollywood companies paid a little more attention to it, but the local Hollywood actors knew very little about Hong Kong movies. Before today, Leonardo had not seen this movie, nor had he heard of it. Therefore, he did not know that the rights of this movie had been bought by Warner Brothers, and he did not know that the rights were now in the hands of Li Mu.
Spielberg said to him, "The rights of this movie were bought by Warner Brothers a few months ago, but it was just bought by Li Mu."
"Li Mu?" Leonardo asked happily. "Then Li Mu is interested in remaking this movie, right?"
"That's right." Spielberg said, "Li Mu is going to co-produce and distribute it with DreamWorks, and he really hopes that you will play the role of Yongren Chen."
Speaking up to this point, Spielberg smiled and said, "Of course, if we remake this movie, this character will not have this name. The whole story will definitely move to the United States, and it will take place between the American gangs and the American police."
"That's great!" Leonardo almost blurted out without hesitation. "I am willing to play this role, I am so damn willing! I like this character, I like this poor guy, just don't let him be so pitiful in the remake … "
Tom Hanks smiled and said, "Believe me, Leo, if it is a remake, they will give your character a grand funeral at the end. Not only will there be Scottish bagpipes, but there will also be a 21-gun salute!"
Leonardo said excitedly, "Hey, Tom, think about it. This character is called Jimmy or something else. After experiencing all this, he gains the love of a beautiful psychiatrist, but this psychiatrist has always been dissatisfied with his identity as a gangster, and she even tried to draw a line between them. He accepted it and gradually alienated this psychiatrist. But before he was to meet the dirty police, he found this psychiatrist, put all his information in an envelope, and gave it to her for safekeeping. He then asked her to open the envelope if anything happened to him."
Tom Hanks nodded and said with a smile, "And then he … died with a bang."
"Yes!" Leonardo said excitedly. "The character died, but he won his identity and all the glory. He also told his true identity to the woman he loved. Think about it, this woman loved him painfully, but in her eyes, he was nothing more than a charismatic gangster, or even a heinous murderer. But after he died, she finally understood everything. She understood this man's identity and the great mission he had been doing for so many years. This completely overturned her previous understanding of him. This will be very comforting to the audience."
Tom Hanks also began to enjoy the discussion of the plot, so he asked Leonardo, "In this case, what do you think the dirty police should do?"
"He must die!" Leonardo said, "Good people can die, but bad people have to die. Good people die with honor, while bad people die with infamy. This is what the audience can accept. I don't want to be in a movie where good people die while bad people get away scot-free and then pretend to say that they want to be a good person."
Tom Hanks said, "In this case, I think we can design another police officer. This police officer can be Officer Huang's partner. He knows that Officer Huang and Chen Yongren both died in the hands of the dirty police, but there is no evidence to convict him, or he is not satisfied that he will only be sentenced to life imprisonment. So, he decides to punish the evil himself and let him kill the dirty police to end the whole movie. This will also give the audience a satisfactory explanation."
Spielberg said, "What you two said is very good. I quite agree with these points, and I also have an idea for you two to discuss."
The two listened attentively. Spielberg paused and said, "In the original version, Liu Jianming has a girlfriend who is a writer, and Chen Yongren has a female psychiatrist who cares about him very much. These two female characters do not have any interaction, and the two characters are actually quite thin overall. If we remake the movie, why don't we merge these two female characters into one?"
"Merge into one?" Tom Hanks frowned and asked him, "Steven, you mean that this psychiatrist is both the dirty police officer's girlfriend and the main character's psychiatrist, and then she falls in love with the main character?"
"Yes." Spielberg nodded and said, "Female characters are actually very important in this kind of scene between two men. This movie should give the audience the impression that the bad guy seems to have everything, but in fact, he unknowingly loses everything, including his humanity, his future, and his love. On the other hand, although the good guy has been losing a lot, he has completed his mission, won glory, and won the heart of a good woman. In this way, even if he dies in the end, he is still a hero and can comfort the audience."
Leonardo suddenly snapped his fingers and suddenly understood. "That's great. It's just like Mel Gibson's' Braveheart '. Although the main character, William Wallace, was beheaded in the end, he completed the mission of leading the Scottish people to rebel, won everyone's respect, and won the heart of the French princess played by Sophie Marceau."
Tom Hanks said, "According to the plot, the French princess played by Sophie Marceau was originally the daughter-in-law of the King of England, but later on, before the King of England died, Sophie Marceau told him that she was not pregnant with his grandson, but William Wallace's flesh and blood. This is really too satisfying."
Spielberg said, "Letting the antagonist's woman fall in love with the protagonist is a very useful plot device in itself. In this way, through the woman's choice, the real winner between the protagonists and protagonists will be revealed. Especially when the antagonist has almost everything and the protagonist has almost nothing, the audience's feelings will be even stronger. When the audience faces the antagonist who has everything and the protagonist who has nothing, they will completely subvert their own values. For example, Sophie Marceau in 'Braveheart', no matter how she is packaged, her behavior is a standard adultery. What's worse is that she is the initiator of the adultery and is pregnant with another man's child. But in this movie, no one will blame her. On the contrary, countless people will applaud her behavior, and her behavior will also make the audience admire the protagonist even more."
"Haha!" Leonardo laughed and said, "If you put it this way, 'Titanic' is actually the same. Kate's Ruth is actually a woman who has an affair, and my Jack is a poor boy who seduces someone else's fiancée."
"Yes." Spielberg laughed and said, "You even won the ticket to board the ship by gambling."
After saying that, Spielberg stopped smiling and said seriously, "Actually, this is the psychology of the audience. They want to see the main character win everything and the antagonist lose everything. In this case, even if the wife of the antagonist takes the initiative to cheat on the main character, not only will the audience not blame her, but they will also admire her, because this will strengthen the aura of the main character, and at the same time, please the audience. So, I want to merge the two female characters in 'Infernal Affairs' into one, let her increase the tension of the plot, and at the same time, give some comfort to the audience."
Leonardo asked, "Then how exactly should we set it up?"
Spielberg said, "We still have to think about this carefully. We have to sort out the timeline of this female character knowing the antagonist, as well as the male lead, as well as the story line of the three of them."
After a pause, Spielberg looked at Leonardo and asked with a smile, "Anyway, Leo, you are 100% sure that you want to join this movie, right?"
"Oh my god." Leonardo said especially seriously, "Not 100% sure, but 10,000% sure!"
“OK。” Spielberg nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Tom Hanks and said, "Tom, are you interested in the role of Officer Huang?"
"Me?" Tom Hanks was obviously a little surprised. He did not think that Spielberg would invite him to participate in this movie. Since the male lead was chosen to be Leonardo, the other male supporting role should also be a young man about the same age as Leonardo. He was obviously not suitable, so when they were discussing, he did not think that he would participate.
However, when Spielberg suddenly asked him if he was interested in the role of Officer Huang, Tom Hanks really could not make up his mind.
Officer Huang's role wasn't a big one. He wasn't even the third male lead. No matter how one looked at it, this role wouldn't have as many scenes as the gangster boss. So, this role should be the fourth male lead.
For an actor like Tom Hanks, a supporting role would basically not be considered. On one hand, big stars did not like to play supporting roles, and on the other hand, the production company would not give them the opportunity to play supporting roles. These extremely expensive actors and their salaries were frighteningly high. If they were to hire them to film, they would definitely have to play the leading role, or at least the supporting role. If they were to hire a top actor to play a supporting role, the entire movie would have to cost a lot of money.
Spielberg also knew that this role was more or less marginal, so he tried to persuade Tom Hanks, saying, "Tom, this role may not have many scenes, but it is very important to the entire movie. Whether it is me or Li Mu, we all respect your acting skills very much, so we really hope that you can accept this role. Li Mu also clearly stated that you and Leo have already reduced your salary in 'Flying Tigers'. No matter what, 'Infernal Affairs' will not let you sacrifice your interests, so they will pay you according to the market price and give you a share of the box office."
After that, Spielberg added, "But if you are not willing, it is okay, I can understand."
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