Chapter 92: Assassin Casting
"$200 million?"
"Titanic?"
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Crazy, simply crazy. How many films have a global box office of less than $200 million? Is this a joke or what? These reporters had barely recovered from the shock of Song Tang's grand scene with 3,000 people and 200 horses when they were suddenly hit with another stunning piece of news that left them disoriented.
Looking at these reporters who were still in shock, Song Tang smiled with satisfaction. In '93, spending $200 million to make a movie was indeed hard to believe, but Song Tang really had such an idea in his heart.
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, and stopped at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, before heading to its final destination of New York City. On the night of April 14, 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean and sank two hours and forty minutes later, on April 15, 1912, at 2:20 am, resulting in the deaths of 1,523 people due to only having 20 lifeboats.
To find the treasure of the Titanic, which sank in 1912 in the Atlantic Ocean - the priceless "Heart of the Sea" gemstone, treasure hunter Brock retrieved a rusty safe from the wreckage. However, inside was only a well-preserved sketch - a young woman wearing a diamond necklace. This TV news caught the attention of a 100-year-old elderly woman, who became excited and immediately took a helicopter to Brock's salvage ship. It turned out that she was Rose Dawson, the woman in the painting. She told a touching love story: Rose did not want to marry her fiancé Cal, so she tried to commit suicide by jumping into the sea but was rescued by Jack. Jack took her to a third-class cabin dance party and gave her the sketch...
The two fell in love quickly, but soon after, one of the greatest disasters in history occurred - the sinking of the Titanic. Their newly sprouted love was put to a life-and-death test. In the end, Jack drowned himself to save Rose. Rose was rescued, and she couldn't forget Jack because he had brought her so much happiness, as well as new hope and a future...
After Titanic was released, it grossed over $1.8 billion at the box office worldwide, a box office record that even in the 21st century is still considered legendary. At the same time, Titanic won 11 major awards at the 69th Academy Awards in 1998, including Best Picture and Best Director, which is absolutely legendary.
For this film, Song Tang has been yearning for a long time. Previously, he didn't put the filming of "Titanic" on schedule because he thought the timing wasn't right. But now that he's spoken out, he won't let go of this classic legend again! Of course, these reporters wouldn't know about these things anyway.
Seeing the reporters still in a daze, Song Tang quickly took advantage of this opportunity to slip away. By the time the reporters realized what was happening, Song Tang had already started the car.
"Is this true or false? Does he really not know what a $200 million figure is? This is dollars, not RMB!" Just hearing Song Tang's oral statement and not knowing the truth of the matter, the reporters looked at Song Tang leaving and suddenly became chaotic. However, for this reporter's question, there was no uniform answer for him, because these slightly smarter reporters knew that rushing to put the information they got on the newspaper was the key!
"Boss, you're really spending $200 million to make a movie?" Danny asked in surprise as the car started moving.
"Of course, do you think I'm just casually fooling around with these reporters? $200 million is correct, but that's not the total cost, it's just the production cost, and the promotional expenses afterwards are not included!" Song Tang turned his head, looking at Danny who seemed somewhat unbelieving, and smiled.
"What the heck is this movie that costs $200 million to make, when you consider that Jurassic Park only cost $54 million to produce, and even if you add up all its expenses, it still doesn't come close to the production cost of this film, no wonder you're shocked!"
"Haha, this is a classic film. At this moment, I already have an idea. It will absolutely surpass 'Jurassic Park' in terms of box office, people's welcome, and awards!" Song Tang said with a flash of sharp light in his eyes, his tone calm and composed.
"Wow!" Danny looked at Song Tang with a firm and confident expression, couldn't help but feel surprised, still thinking in his heart what kind of movie this was, but after seeing Song Tang's gaze, Danny couldn't help but feel curious!
"Alright Danny, don't think about these things for now. After all, 'Brave Heart' hasn't finished filming yet, we still have a lot of things to do!" Song Tang looked at Danny with a thoughtful expression and patted his shoulder, speaking with emphasis.
"Yeah! What's the point of thinking so much, when the boss is ready to shoot, you'll know then, after all, it's not even certain if this is real or not?" Thinking of this, Danny stopped thinking about these irrelevant things and focused on driving.
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When Song Tang and his group returned to the town, it was already noon. Seeing this situation, Song Tang couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that we'll be delayed again this morning, let's go in and have some lunch, and continue filming in the afternoon!"
"Alright, boss!" Seeing their own boss say so, these actors and crew members naturally had no objections!
When Song Tang returned to the inn where he had spent a night of Xiaohun last night, Sophie had already packed up her things neatly. Song Tang looked at the tidy room and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He had originally wanted to take a nap, but now he could only give up!
In the afternoon, when Song Tang brought Su Fei, whose spring-like complexion had not yet faded from her face, to the filming location, she instantly attracted another wave of envious glances!
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"Three thousand people, two hundred horses? What a magnificent sight! Can you imagine it, all coming from a small town in Scotland?" "It's hard to believe, mobilizing thousands of people, hundreds of horses, such a large film crew team, and yet keeping it under wraps!" "Braveheart, the new movie name Braveheart, Hollywood genius director, sparing no effort, crossing oceans, shooting a new film!"
"Hollywood genius director, boasting that he wants to spend $200 million to shoot a movie?" "Really is an ignorant child, $200 million? It's just box office!" "Who does he think he is? Just a businessman with some small money, don't think that shooting one movie can make him a big director!" "Century cruise! Century film!"...
The next day, with the reporter's interview of Song Tang, the news spread like wildfire, and Song Tang suddenly caused a new frenzy in Europe and America. The filming location of "Brave Heart", this small town in Scotland, was surrounded by reporters from all over the world who had heard the news. Of course, these were exactly what Song Tang wanted to see. "Brave Heart" was about to be finished, and the next step would be the promotion and post-production of the film. With free publicity, Song Tang certainly wouldn't give it up!
But these reporters came to the Scottish town, destined to come in anticipation and leave in disappointment. After all, the entire scene was semi-enclosed, with many Tang Dynasty personnel on the periphery blocking the reporters' observation. On the other hand, it was because some of the main scenes of "Brave Heart" had already been filmed at this time, leaving only a few scattered small scenes. Even if some reporters managed to sneak past the Tang Dynasty personnel's blockade and enter the filming scene, they didn't get much exciting information. The disappointed reporters were even more fiercely squeezing "Brave Heart", but the more they did so, the happier Song Tang became!
On March 5th, all the shots were finally completed. After completing the shoot, Song Tang had another crazy night with Sophie before boarding a plane back to Los Angeles, as another film of Da Tang was about to be put on schedule!
"Hey, Wah! How's it going? Enjoying LA?" After arriving in the Tang Dynasty, Song Tang discovered an Asian face familiarizing himself with English. Song Tang took a look and wasn't that Andy Lau?!
"Hello, Mr. Song, it's great here, but there are still some language barriers!" Liu Dehua was also very happy to see Song Tang, after all, although he could often see a few familiar faces here, he couldn't help but feel excited when he saw Song Tang!
"Haha, that's good. However, Wah (Liu Dehua), you don't have to keep calling me Mr. Song anymore. If possible, just call me Little Song directly! How's the script for Killer going? Can we start rehearsing?" Song Tang asked, seeing the script for "This Hitman is Not Too Cold" still on Liu Dehua's side.
"This is no problem at all!" As for the film, Andy Lau is very confident. If the script of "This Killer Is Not So Cold" were in Chinese or Cantonese, it would not have taken him so long to prepare. The reason he spent so much time was just to get used to English. Although his English is still passable, there is still a certain gap between him and these native-born Americans. In order to smoothly complete the filming of his first film in the United States, Andy Lau has been practicing English every day, and as a result, his English level has been rising steadily!
After hearing Andy Lau's words, Song Tang smiled and nodded slightly. As for Andy Lau's acting skills, Song Tang didn't need to worry at all. For someone like Andy Lau who shoots tens of movies every year, filming is as simple as eating. The only thing Song Tang was worried about before was the language barrier, but now it seems that Song Tang can completely relax!
"Song! Song!" Just then, a clear and crisp voice came from the doorway.
