In Los Angeles in June, the weather was very hot like a stove. On a hot summer day, several staff members took the luggage from the two RVs and pushed them to the luggage compartment of the plane under the command of the business captain.
Los Angeles has not rained for more than two months. After Duke got out of the car, he felt that the air in his lungs seemed to be burning. He lowered the brim of his hat, took off the sunglasses hanging in his pocket, and put it in front of his eyes. The sensation of blazing heat brought by the dazzling sunlight has slightly improved.
The door of the RV was pushed open again, and Tina Fei came over with her mobile phone.
"I have already contacted the people over there." She habitually stood a little behind Duke, "People from the organizing committee and Warner branch will pick up the plane."
Duke nodded, and took the lead on his business jet. In fact, he and Tina Fei were the only ones who went there.
For example, Liam Nissen and other members of the crew will still stay in North America to run announcements and make publicity. After all, it is not the future. The capacity of the opposite market is not large enough to allow him to pull the entire crew over. North America It is still the most important foundation and the largest ticket warehouse market.
In fact, Duke doesn't care if there is someone picking up the airport, but the opposite is a veritable state of etiquette, and he values the etiquette of welcoming and sending you very much.
The plane quickly climbed into the sky, and when it entered a stable state, a flight attendant brought two cold drinks for Duke and Tina Fei.
Tina Fei took a sip of the juice and said to Duke, who was sitting opposite, "I think we should bring an interpreter. Although I can speak some Japanese. I don't speak Chinese."
"They will provide an interpreter on formal occasions." Duke didn't care much. "In private, I am the best interpreter."
"Do you know Chinese?" Tina Fei asked curiously.
She had never seen Duke speak Chinese. I never saw him learn Chinese.
"I studied for a while when I was in school."
This is not a lie. Duke once took Chinese as an elective course. It is not easy to graduate from university. He must take enough credits. Since he has an advantage, he will certainly take Chinese as an elective course. This can also provide a reason for hearing Chinese in the future.
But any language is left for too long. Everyone becomes rusty, and Duke is no exception, in the absence of enough practice. His level is indeed higher than most foreigners, but he wants to be as smooth as before, but he can't do it.
And after graduating from university, he never communicated with others in Chinese.
This is a long journey. Sleep is the best way to pass the time. But after the plane landed and took off in Hawaii, Duke couldn't sleep anymore. He opened his eyes and looked at Tina Fei who was sitting on the opposite side with his eyes closed. He got up and took the notebook, and simply flipped through the most recent mail.
There are several letters from Charles Rowan. After the filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, his producer has made it much easier. In recent years, he has been half-work and half-rested. As Robin Grande will be responsible for the Harry Potter series for a long time, Charles Rowan will continue to be responsible for Duke's new projects.
The new project has long passed Warner Bros' review. Although the project has not yet been established, Charles Rowan has begun to contact some people under Duke's instruction.
The production team will use the manpower that Duke has worked with for many years, and contact mainly actors, especially those who play Bruce Wayne.
Duke’s priority is still Christian Bell. Charles Rowan is also talking with the other’s agent, but as in the past, Duke will not hang himself on any tree, Ben Affleck, Ivan McGregor, Michael Fassbender and Gerald Butler are also potential candidates.
Even Duke called Leonardo DiCaprio. If Xiao Li was willing to play, he would immediately throw away other actors.
Unfortunately, as Xiao Li said to him before, after "Titanic", he did not pursue too much in business.
At present, all contacts are at the initial stage. Apart from the actor's own fame, ability and temperament, price is also the focus of Duke's consideration.
If Christian Bale refuses the invitation, Duke will not reluctantly. This is Hollywood and who will star in Master Wayne. The difference is really not very big.
After completing this event and returning to North America, Duke plans to determine the candidate for the leading actor. The reason is simple. Whoever plays Bruce Wayne must undergo a long period of fitness and combat training.
There is also an email from Marvel. Kevin Fitch, the president of Marvel Pictures, asked him for his opinion on when should the first Marvel series of films be launched.
After more than two years of preparation, Marvel has compiled a relatively complete plan for the future. With the continuous success of "Spider-Man" and "X-Men", the management can't wait, and they urgently demand Duke This Marvel’s largest shareholder escorted the first film in the Marvel series.
Duke has not made his final determination, after all, in the next year, the new Batman debut will disperse most of his energy.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy has just achieved great success, and Duke must also not neglect the next work.
After reading the email for a while, thinking about Marvel and DC's movie plans in his head, Duke didn't know when he fell asleep again. When he woke up, he was already covered with a blanket. Tina Fei sat opposite. Refreshing with coffee.
"Almost there?" Duke asked, removing the blanket.
Tina Fei put down the coffee cup, reached out to take the blanket, and handed it to the stewardess who came by, and said, "There is still half an hour."
Half an hour later, the business jet did indeed arrive at Shanghai Airport, but like most cities with heavy traffic in the world, the plane hovered in the air for more than 20 minutes before landing on the ground.
All the customs clearance procedures were handled by special personnel. When everything was done, Duke and Tina Fei dragged their luggage and walked out of the airport corridor.
Just walking out, Duke saw a conspicuous banner-a warm welcome to the Oscar Best Director Duke Rosenberg to attend the Shang Hai Film Festival!
Reporters were crowded under the banner, and the first few of them greeted him and Tina Fei quickly.
"Hi Phil."
At the forefront is the head of Warner Bros. Greater China. Duke knew him and greeted him familiarly, "It's been a long time."
"Yes." Phil shook hands with Duke. "You are now the world's No. 1 box office and best director at the Oscar."
After speaking, he shook hands with Tina Fei again, "Hello, Tina."
There were a lot of reporters around, and the frequency of flashing lights was fast enough, but these people were stopped by the security personnel. Phil turned to Duke to introduce two Chinese representatives, "Duke, this is Ma Liang Mr. Yu, the vice chairman of the film festival organizing committee. This is Mr. Li Yuming, the secretary general of the organizing committee."
"Mr. Li, Mr. Ma, this is Director Rosenberg, and this is Miss Tina Fei, the chief executive of Duke Pictures."
"It's nice to meet you."
What Duke said was some mixed Chinese. When the two heard this, they were a little stunned, and then returned to normal. After all, they were not ordinary people, and they shook hands with Duke and Tina Fei one by one, as usual.
After a brief introduction, the group of people boarded three cars under the protection of many security personnel and left the airport and drove towards the city.
Duke stayed at the Peace Hotel on the Bund. After arriving at the hotel, due to jet lag, he simply chatted with the two of them, declined the dinner invitation from each other, and prepared to go to sleep.
As the age is getting older, although there is no sign of deterioration in physical strength and energy, Duke still pays great attention to maintenance.
I slept intermittently until the next morning. As the film festival was still a few days away, Duke was not in a hurry to go out, but asked Tina Fei to communicate with the festival organizer, China Film Group and Warner Greater China Branch. In order to determine the itinerary for the next few days.
Now that he is here, Duke has no plans to just show up and go back. Although it is still far from the outbreak of the market here, how can he be familiar with the fans and people who are interested in movies.
It’s not the 90s anymore. Directors have more and more influence on film marketing, and even some directors can attract a large number of brain fans. In this populous country, just brain fans can often raise the box office of a movie. .
This time, Duke was not focusing on the present, but the future.
"The schedule has been determined."
After Duke was finished washing, Tina Fei had come to his suite, holding a plan and said, "You have to attend the opening ceremony of the film festival first."
This is not surprising. Now that the war on terrorism is in full swing, Sino-U.S. relations are in a relative honeymoon period. If there were no works to be screened at the festival, Duke believed that the organizing committee would definitely invite him to be a judge. A member of the meeting.
"Followed by a China-US Film Forum, and a formal dinner jointly organized by Shanghai City and China Film Group."
Seeing that Duke had no objection, Tina Fei continued, "The last is a TV interview and a lecture at the university."
The two parties have already communicated with each other before, and Tina Fei is making the final confirmation, "If the TV station has a talk show on the other side’s national TV station and a show by a female host who has studied in the United States, there are three universities to offer you A formal invitation was issued..."
Without even thinking about it, Duke said, "Turn off the official TV station."
This is not prejudice, but just the need for political correctness. He is a mainstream director who can no longer be mainstream. Unless his head is flooded, he will accept an interview with the national TV station here.
"What about the university?" Tina Fei said the names of the three schools.
"We are not going to the north." Duke thought for a while, "Fudan will be fine."
Almost all activities were arranged on Shang Hai's side, and Duke did not want to fly to the north again. (To be continued...)