The Best Director

Chapter 493: Chapter 493: Happy

“So far this year, the best picture is ‘Little Miss Sunshine,’ which is expressed with humor in all seriousness. Only a little bit of as-desired life is the most interesting film being shown in theaters. Admittedly, that doesn’t say much, but this little tart is as good as it gets.”

“The happy, creamy inside makes it worth making a fuss over,” began the review by BOM’s critic Scott Holleran. “If someone were to shoot it with a big budget on core nihilism about moral corruption, or if they treated the sharp-tongued ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ competition with idealistic results and courtesy at the end, it would just taste a bit salty. …”

The huge success of ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ has left those who doubted it and Flame Films speechless. Operating films is sometimes like gambling, but Flame is always the winner. ‘Rich Old Friends’, ‘Alpha Dog’, ‘Coming of Age’, ‘Million Dollar Murder Game’… What about these opening films, closing films, jury grand prize winners, and world jury grand prize winners now? Not so wonderful.

More and more distributors like Fox Searchlight, Weinstein, and Lionsgate have made up their minds; Wang Yang is the film industry’s ‘Jeff Ma,’ even more magical than Jeff Ma himself. He has a masterful grasp of the big picture, instantly recognizing which films are the real deal. He is currently the person who understands the film market the best. If next year they have any doubts and hesitations, feeling even dumber than fools, even at the risk of being played by Wang Yang, they would still compete with Flame to the very end, or at least drive up the price.

The thought of ‘Crash’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’ receiving Oscar nominations for Best Picture sends shivers down the spines of the Weinstein brothers, Jon Feltheimer, and others! For distributors, the significance of Oscar nominations/awards lies in the conversion to profit. So, the profit for ‘Little Miss Sunshine’?

“Last year ‘Match Point’ garnered an average of $25,244 and $88,355 at eight venues over two weeks (ultimately $23.15 million in North America / $85.3 million worldwide), while ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ took in an average of $18,598 and $87,862 at seven venues, just as promising. Flame Films plans to release it nationwide on December 15 (around 600 theaters). ‘Everybody is going to love ‘Little Miss Sunshine’; it’s our big plan.’ said Wang Yang, clearly believing that treating it as a template for ‘Match Point’ is entirely unreasonable. Wang Yang said, ‘Little Miss Sunshine is that kind of oddball movie where you don’t know where its potential lies, but it’s bound to be sweet.’”

In the box office reports by Yahoo Entertainment, there was mention of an interview with Flame’s boss Wang Yang. In another interview, the recently successful producer Marc Turtletaub said: “We are always simplistically divided into winners and losers. I think the significance of ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ lies in the message that losers are not predestined; it is an American Dream in itself.” No one dares say otherwise—just look how much Focus Features regrets now!

“The distribution by Flame Films is outstanding; they’ve been continually astonishing with their attitude toward ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ I’m really grateful for the road that the magical Yang has paved for it,” Turtletaub said in a lengthy thank-you to Flame when discussing distribution issues. Unlike Yari and Bull’s Eye, the Big Beach Films received a satisfactory deal with a $15 million buyout fee plus a 10% profit share bonus, as it was the best offer at the time according to market conditions, and Flame has been bearing the risks all along, no matter what happens now.

No one knew the specific ambition of the flame, nor did anyone know how “Little Miss Sunshine” would fare in the coming awards season, but for three consecutive years, the flame had made significant contributions to independent films, which left others envious.

That same week, Warner’s 100 million dollar CGI animated film “Happy Feet” was released, and Sony/Columbia’s 150 million dollar action movie “Casino Royale” hit the screens. As the 21st installment in the James Bond series and Daniel Craig’s first appearance as the new Bond, “Casino Royale” had been incessantly advertised, focusing on the casino scene from the beginning. With news of world-class professional card players joining as coaches flooding out, despite its high ratings of 94%/96%/83%, sweeping away the rotten trend of 59%/42%/53% in “Die Another Day,” during the gambling scenes, it received a basketful of rotten tomatoes.

It was their promotional tactics that had inflated audience expectations for the gambling scenes to the highest; it was “MIT-21-TEAM” that elevated the audience’s taste to a new level. The boisterous gambling scenes in “Casino Royale” became nothing more than clichéd facial close-ups, tense eyes, and piles of enormous chips. Every time it came to the climax of the gambling scenes, the scriptwriters and director’s approach was to have Bond make a few bets and then casually walk away to trigger other events. The delayed gambling climax completely lost its tension; in the post-MIT-21-TEAM era, it looked neither thrilling nor cool, neither clear nor tasty, simply not worth a smirk.

“It’s just a big action movie, don’t expect any great gambling scenes – there aren’t any!” said Spielberg00; Daryl D said, “The gambling methods in ‘Casino Royale’ are childishly ridiculous. It has the props of a gambling film but lacks the resolve, it’s pretentious rather than clever.” Clarissa S said, “After ‘Lucky Card Player,’ I had already lost all confidence in any film’s gambling segments unless the director is the magical Yang.”…

In this respect, the audience’s ridicule seemed never enough, but it was undeniable that the action scenes in “Casino Royale” were indeed explosive and stimulating, with a good overall pace, making it a rare gem. Thus, it was no surprise that it took the weekly box office championship with 63.26 million dollars. In fact, it was a wise decision to gloss over the gambling table scenes and focus the energy on the action segments, otherwise, it might have been directly blown away by “MIT-21-TEAM.”

“Doggy, Nini!” In the sunlit garden, dressed in a white floral dress, Keke walked around cheerfully. Having nearly two months of walking experience, her chubby arms and legs had no problems maintaining balance, and now she was chasing after Danny, patting his body and head and shouting his name from time to time.

The aged Danny was initially content sniffing at the grass, but after being patted on the ears a few times, he became reluctant, licked Keke’s palms a few times, and then turned away. “Nini!” Keke, who was having so much fun patting, immediately chased after him with her little feet. Although Danny was old, he could still run fast, and Keke’s pace picked up. With a “Yah” she fell to the ground, and Danny immediately came back to lick her face, as if to comfort her. Keke laughed brightly, raising her hands to caress his mouth, and exclaimed, “Doggy, Nini!”

After a while, Keke pursed her lips, propped herself up, and continued to chase and tease Danny.

“My little baby, oh, my little baby! You’ve gotten so big! Oh, I missed you so much.” At that moment, an extremely delighted voice suddenly came from the direction of the house, “Sweetheart, look who’s here?” “Sweetheart, do you recognize him?” and there were the sounds of laughter from mom and dad, and Keke turned her head to look. @@novelbin@@

A tall man came running over, a big smile on his face, with a cute rabbit doll in his arms. As he ran, the doll’s ears swayed back and forth. Jessica loved the doll, but who was this man?

“Whoa!” Joshua, who was running crazily, didn’t mind the enthusiastic Danny, and opened his arms to hug Keke. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and he was in New York to celebrate. Of course, his main purpose was to visit Keke, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. Recently, they could only catch up via video calls, but how could that compare to a hug now? Joshua picked her up with one arm, laughing, “You can talk, you can walk, wow—you’re unbelievable, my God! I’ve missed out on so much.”

Keke wasn’t shy, as both her parents wore big smiles, and she seemed to recall having met him before. She looked towards Jessica, “Mommy?” Wang Yang patted Joshua on the shoulder and asked, “He’s your Uncle Joshua, Ya Ya?” Jessica made typing gestures with both hands, reminding her daughter, “Don’t you remember? Computer?!” At the mention of the computer, Keke immediately rounded her mouth in realization, shouting, “Ya Ya!”

“Wow! You little pumpkin pie,” Joshua laughed, his mouth agape with joy, increasingly finding Keke adorable—the big eyes, small mouth, soft cheeks, and her neatly cut bob hair with long and graceful bangs. He chuckled, “Tell Ya Ya, have they been picking on you? Don’t be scared, I will stand up for you!” Wang Yang and Jessica both laughed. She proudly said, “Tell him, how much do Mommy and Daddy love you?”

“Love!” Keke patted her mouth and blew a kiss to Joshua. Every evening before bed, on nights without a bedtime story, referred to as “Independence Day”, before leaving the baby room, both would say “I love you” and then blow kisses. Unexpectedly, Keke had learned this and was using it at the right moment.

So adorable! Joshua was nearly swooning from cuteness, and her parents’ eyes widened with surprise. Such a good baby! Wang Yang eagerly asked, “Sweetheart, is there more? Is there more? Do you love Daddy?” Naturally, Jessica didn’t want to miss out, asking quickly, “And Mommy? Love—?” Keke smartly patted her mouth and gestured towards them. The two recipients of her gesture drew a long breath, giddy to the point of staggering as if they were about to fall, then held onto each other, huddling together. Wang Yang exclaimed, “The kiss of the century!” Jessica exclaimed, “The kiss of an angel!”

Watching their exaggerated antics, Joshua didn’t find it ridiculous but was filled with anticipation. When would he and Alison be like this… “Oh, hahaha!” Keke laughed sweetly, knowing she had done something right. Seeing her parents so happy made her very happy.

After fooling around with Keke for a bit, Joshua finally let her and the bunny doll go to hug Danny, who had been making noises of protest due to being ignored for too long. It had been so long since they last met, and now the baby could talk and walk; of course, he had to play with her properly. Joshua played hide-and-seek with her, but with the sharp-nosed Danny around and not many hiding spots in the garden, Keke could easily find his hiding places. The garden filled with the warm sound of laughter.

Ever since finding a fitting horror script called “Dead Eyes Open” (Unrest), Joshua had been actively involved in its production.

“Dead Eyes Open” tells the story of medical freshman Alison Brandman experiencing supernatural sensations during her first anatomy class, following which a series of terrifying events occur. The 34-year-old screenwriter Jason Todd Ibsen, who was originally a surgeon and now practices medicine with his wife, was 27 when he entered the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts in 1999. After graduating, he directed and produced a short film called “The First Vampire” before he and Joshua hit it off. He is one of the directors and producers of “Dead Eyes Open.”

Two production companies are involved in “Dead Eyes Open”: the rights belong to “Snowflakes-Films”, founded by Joshua, the name signifying his memory of skiing during the Sundance Film Festival, as he felt the snowflakes inspired him to make the production decision; the other is “Asgaard-Entertainment”, owned by Ibsen who is a fan of Norse mythology, having named his two children Odin and Thor, reflecting the Norse mythological abode Asgaard.

In terms of morgue-themed movies, both 1983 and 2005 saw low-budget horror films called Mortuary, but they were both zombie flicks. “Dead Eyes Open”, on the other hand, was a psychological horror with an aspect of gore. Joshua was interested in the fresh perspective of medical students, as medical schools, anatomy labs, and morgues could be terrifying settings. The dissected corpses also offered suspense. It was an excellent subject.

However, Joshua was not satisfied with the first draft of the screenplay by Ibsen; it had many absurd and forced aspects, worst of all, lacking a sense of horror. Filming it as it was meant certain failure. It was necessary to reshape the script. He didn’t want to overburden Wang Yang but arranged for a brief meeting with Ibsen to offer guidance. He also contacted James Wan and Leigh Whannell, but they were occupied with “Dead Silence” and couldn’t participate in the rewrite, though they did offer some opinions and advice; similarly were Nancy, Richard Kelly, and others.

Although not officially involved, these figures greatly benefited Ibsen, inundating him with countless things he couldn’t learn at the University of Southern California. Especially Wang Yang’s advice, which gave him an epiphany; he understood the shining points of the subject and how to grasp them!

Once Ibsen rewrote a screenplay that Joshua found to be OK, the production began shooting, and is now in post-production. The budget is set for 1.5 million US dollars, and it’s planned to participate in next year’s Sundance Film Festival.

As Thanksgiving approaches, “The Deceased” enters the final stage of post-production, expected to wrap up on time in early December. Meanwhile, “I Am Legend” continues to be busily shot, and another Flame Film’s production, “Iron Man”, wraps up in November. “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” and “The Assassin’s Creed 2” are starting their filming. “Little Miss Sunshine” is doing well, and the next Flame Film’s “The Prestige” is set for release on December 1. (