The Best Director

"I can't understand why "Firefly" didn't win the Best Actor Award. It has great characters, great performances, and we have so many classic screen characters! Is it just because it is a science fiction film?" shan-C He was very unconvinced and said; "My God! This is a sad result. There will be no better cast than "Firefly", and they should win the award!" Lukas-Z was also very dissatisfied; "Mal and Tornado are The most sexy men in the history of science fiction movies, I love them! HEHE." Sarah-J said this;...

The 12th Screen Actors Guild Awards announced on the 29th was quite controversial. It was precisely because the annual award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture was not awarded to the most popular "Firefly". According to Yahoo Entertainment's public opinion survey , only 16% of voters expressed satisfaction with "Good Night, and Good Luck", and 55% of people have not seen the movie; another survey showed that 67% of the people think that "Fireflies" should be Award winning.

However, these are unchangeable facts, and fans can only be disappointed and sighing. There was also an incident at the awards ceremony. Heath Ledger, a family man who had been repeatedly criticized by the media in the past but was now magically transformed, got into trouble again. He and Jake Gyllenhaal took the stage to introduce " Brokeback Mountain", he suddenly burst out laughing. Although the atmosphere at the Shenandoah Exhibition Center was good at the time, the Los Angeles Times the next day accused him of being disrespectful: "Introducing a film with such a sensitive subject matter and story What did the laughing Ledger want to say in such a serious movie? Does this guy know what kind of movie he is in?..."

"I'm sorry, there was no malice." Heath Ledger's relationship with the media has never been very good. He is a famous thorn in his side. Even after he calmed down, he still often looked carefree, but this time he was honest. After admitting his mistake, Ledger issued a statement saying: "I wasn't thinking of something interesting at the time, and I didn't mean to disrespect 'Brokeback Mountain.' In my mind, it was a real movie, otherwise I wouldn't have accepted the offer. Obviously I didn't It’s amazing how generous and talented I am, I just did something wrong unintentionally.”

Is this still the Australian thornhead? The media and the public were quite surprised, especially Ledger’s fans. Engagement and having a daughter really changed him! When have you admitted your mistakes before? And he also hinted that he made the mistake because he was not used to the stage award ceremony? The proud Ledger actually lowered his head.

"Heath created the atmosphere in an inappropriate way at an inappropriate time, but I know that he did not have any malicious intentions. I know that he paid too much for "Brokeback Mountain", so we can see his genius performance." Wang Yang He expressed support for Ledger to the Los Angeles Times. He knew very well that Heath was really uncomfortable to the point of losing his temper. The guy sometimes acted like a fool even in ordinary media interviews. On the SAG stage Performance is normal.

Heath Ledger took the initiative to apologize, and Magic Young took the initiative to lend a helping hand, so the incident did not cause any waves.

January 29th is also the closing day of this year's Sundance Film Festival. "Rite of Passage" won the Grand Jury Prize in the Drama Category, and "Millionaire" won the World Jury Prize in the Drama Category, setting a record price. "Sunshine" and "The Magician" did not take away any awards.

However, Wang Yang and the members of Flame Films knew that this trip to Sundance was really a great harvest! Films such as "Friends Are Rich", "Alpha Dog", "Sleep Science", and "Midnight Listener" all found distributors, and film producers such as X-Fox, Warner Independent, and Miramax also went home satisfied. , in the next year, the world will know who is the big winner.

The Wang Yang family went to San Diego to continue their wedding and honey week. During this vacation, the two of them and their baby strollers were already left at the beautiful beaches, golf courses, national forest parks and other places. footprints.

Of course, a zoo full of rare birds and animals is indispensable, but no matter how large it is, there are no traces of ancient animals, except for a beautiful movie poster posted in bathrooms, restaurants and other places: "e-Age: Dawn-of-the-saurs" ”, a wide-eyed squirrel looked at the tourists innocently. "Ice Age 3" will be released globally in April. No one doubts whether it will achieve good results. At least Flame \u0026 Blue Sky have no doubts about it. The best proof is that the production of "Ice Age 4" has been put on the agenda.

This sequel will continue to be created by the original "IA team". Due to normal creative changes, only Michael Berg (IA3) and Mike Reese (IA1, IA3) will remain on the screenwriting team; Steve Ma Tino (IA3 art designer) and Mike Temel (IA1 screenwriter, IA3 co-director) will be promoted to co-directors. Previously, Martino also had experience in directing a short squirrel film. In addition, Wang Yang seems to be interested in the two. He had full confidence and agreed to Lan Tian's plan without any consideration, so the preparation for the production of "IA4" was as fast as ever.

But after all, the team has undergone a major change, and the two veterans Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha have left the team. This is the screen debut of the two directors, so the production time of "IA4" Needing more patience, Flame \u0026 Blue Sky has tentatively scheduled its release date for the summer of 2009.

It’s time to start planning a new animation! As early as last fall, Wang Yang, Mark Slant, Chris Wedge and other leaders had discussed this topic. It was inevitable to launch a new animation. The question was what kind of story? Chris Wedge is still very interested in robots, especially after he had a conversation with children's book author and illustrator William Joyce a few years ago. They were originally discussing how to adapt Joyce's "Santa Claus Calls" ” was adapted into a cartoon, but the result was a brainstorming story about robots.

This is a fantasy world of robots. Robots are equal to humans, working, living, and chasing in the same way. This is also a hierarchical society. The level of robots depends on the manufacturing materials, and the protagonist Luo, who is made of copper, Denis is the humblest, Rodney is not inferior, he thinks he has the brain of an inventor...

In fact, this story is not a novel one. The ordinary life of an ordinary boy or even a good-for-nothing boy changes. He transforms into a hero and defeats the bad guys. At the same time, he gains love and friendship. However, as the saying goes, old wine is put in a new bottle. Many times, it is the novel and bright one. Bottles, like Kung Fu Panda. Regardless of good or bad, "Robot World" is a highly malleable bottle that can be filled with all kinds of wild and whimsical ideas. Wedge and Joyce have the opportunity to make it a "new "Toy Story"" Ambition.

William Joyce, 48, is one of the concept designers and art designers of "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life". In addition, last year he established rth, a joint venture with the scroll effects company Entertainment, which produces cartoons, video games and books, has even announced that it will produce three cartoons: "Guardians of Childhood", "The-ans", and "Dinosaur B and His Adventures and Family", but so far, So far, they have not achieved it and have no actions to achieve it.

What Joyce is most nervous about is "Robot" (The Adventures of Robot). First of all, Flame \u0026 Blue Sky's finances have nothing to do with him. If "Robot" is successful, he will be able to make a name for himself and become more familiar with production matters, because he is Film producer and art director, on the premise that "Robot" is put into production.

"Interesting, we want to be interesting!" At that time, the script had already been drafted. Wang Yang thought that the youth inspirational story theme was okay, and the bottles in the robot world were also very beautiful, but the assembly-line script was too lacking in surprises and touches. , too cliche to make people excited, and some of the jokes are even boring, so why start with a mess? "Cute, we want to be cute!" On the other hand, he was very dissatisfied with the initial character design. It was neither cute nor cool. What did he want? I couldn’t help but ask: “Chris, William, do you really think the children will like it?”

If it’s about other themes, it’s okay to say that youth inspiration is like a youth campus musical. Humanoid robots add to the sense of human aesthetic substitution. Those robots are like starring characters. Who would like the starring role in a youth movie to be a mediocre person? Not cool! And now that the posters are ugly, young people will be put off.

Wang Yang also knows that the original Fox \u0026 Blue Sky version of "Robot Adventures" in 2005 only had a global box office of 260 million (128 million in North America). Compared with the 75 million production fee, plus the income from DVD and VHS, it can be considered a sloppy recovery of costs; Rotten Tomatoes III The index ⑥4%/69%/60% barely qualified, which caused Fox \u0026 Blue Sky to dare not launch a sequel. Problems with the script and characters killed that novel world.

Of course, he doesn't want the Flame \u0026 Blue Sky version to reap this fruit. It's their style to be a hit and a hit, so they must solve the two major problems. In terms of revising the script, he gave some opinions and ideas; as for what makes a humanoid robot cute or cool? Wang Yang didn't know that he was neither a production designer nor an art director. He was busy working on "500 Days of Summer" and had little time to discuss it. The characters in Pixar's "Cars" released in the summer of 2006 were cute. Anyway, He would not agree to produce "Robot Adventures" unless he saw a satisfactory script and character design.

Precisely because Wang Yang is not an art designer or art director, even if he is Magic Yang, William Joyce is still very unconvinced by this, ugly? rigid? obsolete? He doesn't think so. Chris Wedge is a centrist. He feels that the problem is not that serious, but it is also right to strive for excellence. However, film creation is sometimes a very subjective matter. There is no standard for whether a character is beautiful or not. How can a robot with metal parts be considered cute, beautiful, and beautiful? cool……? At present, this project is still in the deadlock stage.

Nonetheless, there is another consensus project in Fire \u0026 Blue Sky, animal cartoons! Wang Yang, Weiqi and others all hope to continue to use Blue Sky's advantages. You must know that when it comes to animal fur mapping and other technologies, even Pixar is no longer as good as Blue Sky; and Blue Sky's ace Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha ( IA1, IA2, IA3) Where is the next stop after completing "IA3"? No matter where it is, he will be the director of the new animation because this is the project he initiated.

"The nominees for Best Cinematography are: "Brokeback Mountain" by Rodrigo Prieto; "Fireflies" by Valle Pfister; "Good Night and Good Luck" by Robert Elswit; "Memoirs of a Geisha" ", Dion Bibby; "New World", Emmanuel Lubezki."

"The nominees for Best Original Score include: "Brokeback Mountain" by Gustavo Sandolara; "Fireflies" by Jenn Kezmelik and Hans Zimmer; "The Immortal Gardener" by Albert Tor Iglesias; Memoirs of a Geisha, John Williams; Pride and Prejudice, Dario Mariannelli."

The sky is very clear in the morning, and on January 31st, the nominations for the 78th Oscars are being announced! Cowboy Bebop who got up early in the morning and turned on the TV were not disappointed. They watched "Firefly" receive nominations one after another, and cheered "YEAH!", "L!", and "GREAT!" one after another!

The Academy did not completely ignore "Firefly". On the contrary, it is leading the list of nominations, followed by "Brokeback Mountain", "Good Night and Good Luck", "Capote", "Wing Song" "Come Together", "Munich"...

"The nominees for Best Supporting Actor include: George Clooney, "Crimson"; Paul Giamatti, "The Man with the Fist"; Jake Gyllenhaal, "Brokeback Mountain"; William Hurt, "Brokeback Mountain" "A History of Violence"; Heath Ledger, "Firefly."" At the unveiling ceremony broadcast live on the channel, Ganis and Sorvino stood in front of the glass podium and announced with smiles on their faces. Sound, the five square screens behind them displayed the nominees' photos one by one.

"YEAH——" Seeing the strangely smiling blue glove in the lower right corner of the screen, the Cowboy Bebop in front of the TV cheered, another one! Soon after the Best Actor/Actress, the Best Director will be announced! Although Yang fans knew that the amazing Yang was definitely a finalist, they were still a little nervous in anticipation. The two began to chant at intervals: "George Clooney, "Good Night and Good Luck"; Ang Lee, "Brokeback Mountain"; Bayley Nate Miller, "Capote"; Steven Spielberg, "Munich"..."

A confident and smiling Clooney appears in the upper right corner, Ang Lee wearing a peaked cap appears in the lower left corner, a pensive Bennett Miller is in the upper left corner, and a calm-looking Spielberg is in the lower right corner. At that time, Sorvino smiled and said: "Wang Yang, "Firefly"." A grinning Wang Yang was shown in the middle.

"Yang, Yang!! Come out and see, what are you doing? We are leading the nomination list! Wow!" In the hotel suite, Jessica was jumping up and down with excitement, shouting and rushing towards the bedroom. : "Wow - so many nominations!" Wang Yang walked out of the bedroom with his hands behind his back. He smiled happily: "I heard them all. It's so happy. But...did you forget something?" Jesse Ka suppressed his excitement and rolled his eyes pretending to be confused: "What?" Wang Yang smiled and reminded: "I'm very angry." Jessica laughed loudly: "Oh, it's our wedding anniversary! Of course I remember it. La, so what?"

"What do you think?" Wang Yang stretched out his right hand to caress her face. Suddenly, he turned it around very quickly, and a rose actually appeared by magic. He smiled and said, "Give it to you."

"Wow!" Jessica took the rose in surprise, took a sip of its fragrance, and asked quickly: "When did you learn it?" Wang Yang shrugged and said, "I'm a magician." He plucked the rose in her ear. After a while, another one appeared, and Jessica took it. She held two bright red roses, took a deep breath, her eyes were full of love, "Are there any more?" Wang Yang laughed, "Guess "Hit." Suddenly another lily appeared in his left hand, and Jessica couldn't help but sigh: "Wow——"