The Best Director

Chapter 458 That’s right!

Suppose there is a well, and there are a group of happy frogs living down the well. A frog on the well thinks that their life is too poor, and tries every means to pull them up and into what it thinks is a beautiful world. This is a kind of salvation, or Is it self-righteous?

This is a question that Wang Yang has been thinking about for a long time. There are various ideas and various forms. It started before "Firefly" and will continue in "I Am Legend". Neville is that frog. , and the group of frogs below the well used to live above the well.

The infected people in the original novel "I Am Legend" (1954) have not changed in appearance or IQ, but they have vampire-like symptoms. They are a group of "new humans". Neville, who is immune to the virus, is researching a vaccine to cure the virus. His fear and hatred make him continue to destroy the vampires' efforts to rebuild society, thus becoming the most hated person by the new humans.

One day, he caught a woman "Ruth" who he thought was not infected, but after getting along with him, he found that she was suspicious. Ruth finally reluctantly agreed to let him take a blood sample for testing, but she knocked him unconscious and he also realized to her being an infected vampire. When Neville wakes up, he finds a note in which she says that the infected are slowly overcoming their illness, that they have been able to stay in the sun for short periods of time, and that they hate him, and she warns Neville that she People will come and catch him and he should leave his house and escape.

However, Neville ignored her warnings and was captured, later meeting Ruth again. Ruth told him that she was a senior officer in the new society, but unlike others, she did not hate her, and she admitted that she planned the capture. Neville was severely hurt and he accepted his fate, asking Ruth not to let that new society become cruel and unforgiving, and she kissed him and his hair.

While being executed, looking at all the vampires, Neville suddenly understood that these new humans have their own morals and pursuits, and their own new world. They do not need to be treated or saved by anyone. He is just a remnant of an old human being! When he was dying, he said: "I am a new legend, I am a legend."

Yes, Neville will probably be an evil figure in the mythology of the new civilization, such as Satan. This is a redemption and counter-redemption, a discussion of the struggle of human nature and the concept of racial civilization. No racial civilization is more advanced than anyone else, and life will find its own way out. This is the original intention of "I Am Legend".

In "The Last Man on Earth" (1964), there are weak and stupid vampires, as well as new mutant and blood-sucking humans. "Dog" appears. It is a stray dog. Morgan failed to catch it when they first met. ; Some time later, it reappeared already infected with the virus, died quickly, and Morgan buried it.

Morgan (Neville) fell in love with Ruth at first sight, convinced her to go home with him, and immediately cured her with a vaccine, he saw hope! But at this time, Ruth's people appeared, and they killed the vampires gathered around Morgan's house.

Then they found and caught up with Morgan who was fleeing. The two gangs exchanged gunfire, and Morgan lost. Although Ruth begged his companions to let him live, he was still nailed to the altar with a spear. Before dying, Morgan called them "Freaks" and declared that he was the last true person on earth. people!

This first-shot version has already distorted the adaptation of "I Am Legend", and the ending of the story has no meaning except to show loyalty to the human audience.

Richard Matheson, the original author who co-wrote the script at the time, was very dissatisfied, but in order to keep receiving subsequent dividends from the film, he still signed his name with a vest "Logans Swanson", which was his wife's mother A combination of his first name and his mother's surname. Matheson said at the time: "I was disappointed that even though they more or less followed my story, it was a shallow and sterile direction and I just didn't like it."

"I'm looking forward to it." Matheson, who is now 80 years old, said this in a rare interview with the New York Times. Because the adaptation rights used to belong to WB and now belong to FF, he has no right to interfere with how to adapt it. But for Wang Yang's reshoot, the old man expressed great expectations and optimism: "Maybe before I die, I can see a real "I Am Legend" and the real Neville."

"The Last Man on Earth" has its story, but its significance is more than the creation of the zombie genre (the vampires and zombies in the film are almost the same), and the film's connotation and box office are not the objects of its praise.

In "The Last Man Standing" (1971), hundreds of albinism mutant survivors in Los Angeles formed an organization "The-ly". The family believed that science caused the tragedy, so all signs of science should be eliminated. They did not use Guns and other high-tech products even imitate medieval clothing, with the most being flashlights and slingshot carts; Neville, "the last remnant of ancient culture," has a hostile relationship with his family.

One day, the family captured Neville in a wine cellar. After a trial, the family convicted him of a guilty devil and sentenced him to be burned at the stake in the center of a stadium.

But another group of survivors, Lisa (the woman he saw during the patrol) and Detz (a former medical student familiar with Neville's work) rescued him. Neville thought that since he was immune, he could use his own plasma Creating a serum might be able to cure these people (previously he only searched for food and clothing and killed family members during the day). If the serum is effective, they are ready to leave Los Angeles and avoid their families to start a new life in the wild.

Lisa's brother Richie was successfully cured. Out of sympathy for the family, Richie went with the serum to try to convince them to accept treatment. The leader Mathias refused to believe it and killed Richie. After Neville arrived, there was a big battle. In the end, when the gun was jammed, he was stabbed by a spear thrown by Matthias and was fatally wounded!

At the same time, under the leadership of Detz, several survivors drove a Land Rover off-road vehicle to escape Los Angeles. They found the dying Neville beside a fountain. He handed over the serum bottle that represented the hope of restoring humanity. Detz died soon after, and the survivors embarked on an unknown journey.

The reason why Neville said "I am a legend" in 1971 was because he developed a serum to restore humanity and sacrificed his life to bring hope to mankind. He is a heroic legend, not a devil. Still so far removed from the novel’s original intent, it’s no wonder Matheson thinks the real “I Am Legend” has yet to be seen.

However, Legend of Heroes did not win much praise and box office for it, and its results were even worse than "The Last Man on Earth". However, it has a shining point, which is the appearance of elements such as Neville's leisure "shopping" and "puppet models". Tim Burton once said: "If I were alone on a desert island, I might choose Things, I might say to myself, like Last Man Standing , I don’t know why it’s one of my favorite movies, but it is.”

The theme of the original WB version of "I Am Legend" continued to be the big hero saving mankind, and it also absorbed and integrated some of the well-received elements of the first two scripts. The stray dog ​​became Sam. The first half of the story focused on depicting Neville's loneliness and loneliness through daily life. In the doomsday atmosphere, in the end he sacrificed his life and died together with the infected who broke through the last line of defense, protecting Anna and her son from death. His serum became the hope of redeeming mankind, and his struggle deeds became a legend (the ending of the release version).

On the other hand, this version has undergone two huge changes. The infected have become dark hunters (Darkseekers) with extremely strong physical fitness, low intelligence, predatory, violent, and ugly. Only the boss has good intelligence, as Now the predators of "Firefly"; and it does not have any new human organization, but there is a legendary survivor camp, "Ruth" and Richie became Anna mother and son, they brought hope, and also "hope" Successfully brought to the survivor camp.

It can be said that the three versions and the novel are all on different tracks because of business, political correctness, beauty and hope.

"T-ME, Keke is the one." Wang Yang also didn't know if Matheson could see "the real "I Am Legend"". He would not let Neville be a stubborn person, nor a person who saves mankind. It's 2006, and he is one of the most box-office-charging directors today. Will Smith is one of the box-office-charging superstars. Is he still as sneaky as he was a few decades ago? What a joke!

But he won't let a female character like "Ruth" appear. There is no room for negotiation, no! The appearance of a woman will completely destroy those loneliness, depression, and despair. Sam's death will immediately become meaningless, she destroyed everything!

The bright moon was in the sky, and the night gradually became darker and darker. In the bright study, Wang Yang shook his head. All the words and images were suddenly swept away. Don't worry about the three versions of "I Am Legend". Don't go. Regardless of the original novel, what does he want?

I want Neville to die as the last human being! I want him to be the legendary devil! Wang Yang has thought about it for a long time and a lot. In fact, what he wants most is loneliness, a doomsday wasteland world!

He knows why the mediocre "The Last Man" is one of Tim Burton's favorite movies, because he has had similar ideas, because it depicts Neville's loneliness and depicts some wasteland worlds. appearance, and his goal for this shooting is to go all out in these two aspects! Therefore, "Ruth" must not appear. After Sam's death, Neville's loneliness and the loneliness of the world were pushed to the extreme. He was the only one left. That is an emotion worth savoring.

People who don't like it will probably say it's dull and boring, and they'll throw in rotten tomatoes and rotten eggs; but those who like it will be fully immersed in it, moved and tangled in tears, and then list it as one of their favorite movies. "I Am Legend" is destined to be a movie. CULT film.

He wants to create the atmosphere, appearance, and details of the apocalyptic world well, and portray the loneliness and depression of the remaining hope, but in fact the world has long been gloomy (family members are all dead), the better, the better! He wants to perfectly present such a doomsday wasteland world, so that the audience in front of the big screen can feel the atmosphere of the wasteland in the most realistic way, and let Neville feel like he is in that world, and then they will have some thoughts and ideas. What I felt was because the eerie, impact, shock, feelings, and thoughts brought about at that time were all open.

If this is a horror movie, then the scariest thing is not zombies, darkness or danger, but loneliness.

"Huh!" Wang Yang slowly closed his eyes, leaned on the back of the chair, and felt the uncomfortable loneliness. This is what he wants, what he wants to give to the audience!

In the darkness, there seemed to be a little light in front. A moth kept flapping its wings and tried to fly over... Standing and flying to the light, it found that there was still darkness around it. The era of light had passed. When people I am used to sleeping during the day and being active at night. Is there any difference? Darkness is light, light is darkness. Human beings just "evolved" from diurnal animals to nocturnal animals. Maybe they will still call themselves diurnal animals. The word "me" means no sun, and "ght" becomes "nocturnal animals". The sun is out, what difference does it make?

Does the moth want to burn the whole world and bring it back to light, regardless of the tragedy of wives and children being separated and death? Or does it want to extinguish that little flame and let the world return to darkness and tranquility? Who saves whom?

Or has it forgotten that in fact, it is also a member of the nocturnal animals, but it is just more "deformed". When it understands that its will, strength, and beliefs are just stumbling blocks that the new civilization hates, that is the loneliness that penetrates the soul.

Akiva Goldsman admired "The Last Man Standing" very much, so although the rewritten script of "I Am Legend" introduced some elements of Mark Plutosevic, the main frame of the story was full of "The Last Man Standing" Shadow, when the 40-page movie scene outline was handed over to Wang Yang, he has already made major changes in many aspects, and it is expected that the lines will be modified throughout the entire filming period. Firstly, it is to cooperate with Will Smith's improvisation. Performance; secondly, he has to judge and decide which scenes should be silent during filming, without saying a word, and then use sound effects to meet the auditory needs.

The amount of Will Smith's improvisation will affect Neville's portrayal, whether he will play the lonely "Will Smith" or someone else. However, Neville does not have any external character traits. Wang Yang knows how to let the big screen Having a lot of Smith charm isn't a bad thing, and audiences love Fresh Prince.

But the script work was not without its ups and downs, and it certainly did not escalate to the level of William Joyce in "The Adventures of Robot". Although Wang Yang was the boss and magical baby, Goldsman also won the Olska Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The winner, even if he doesn't get the right to speak, can leave in style without worrying about finding a new home.

Compared to where the story takes place, the bigger difference between the two is the theme of the film. Both Goldsman's "I Am Legend" endings are happy, and Neville's survival has a more Hollywood-style ending, with will, strength, persistence in faith, and redemption. Others and self-salvation... Wang Yang's direction is rebellious and unethical. He is worthy of Yang's "good reputation" for being dark and anti-human. So what's wrong with being so close to the original novel? So depressing and sad, can the audience bear it? "District 9" still has hope for "three years later", this time...

Not to mention the audience, even the film critics may not support the idea of ​​human extinction! Which sci-fi horror movie, or more specifically a post-apocalyptic movie, would have such a scene? Humanity is extinct!

The current box-office ranking of movies in the post-apocalyptic era is "Waterworld" (175 million production cost, 1995) with a box office of 88.24 million/264 million, Kevin Costner's eternal nightmare; followed by 5900 "Dawn of the Dead" ($102 million/$102 million) and "28 Days Later" ($45 million/$82.71 million) had production costs of only 26 million and 8 million respectively. They were both huge profits. The problem is that they are as cruel as George - A-Romero, "Dawn of the Dead" did not make it clear at the end whether the protagonists will die or not, leaving a trace of hope and aftertaste in suspense.

As for "I Am Legend", which has a production fee of 200 million at any time... Wang Yang said that there is no need to consider business. Who else stipulates that if you don't play a savior, it is not a commercial film? anyone there? Goldsman is not a purely commercial film screenwriter, so this big problem was finally solved, Wang Yangsheng! However, Goldsman revealed that the theme was Magic Young's idea by revealing tidbits in interviews with the media, and that the script had changed beyond recognition.

Compared with the theme, the cause of the virus outbreak is obviously very unimportant. Anyway, Wang Yang can't think like "China and the Soviet Union are fighting a biological weapons war" in the early 1970s in "The Last Man". It's so funny that it was caused by treating cancer. "K-rus" (KV for short) is very good.

KV was originally a genetically modified virus developed to treat cancer. After a period of human clinical trials, KV began to produce unexpected side effects similar to rabies, and it went out of control and caused a large-scale infection. In addition to causing the death of 90% of the world's population, it also turned about 9% of the population into dark hunters.

Apart from the common features of madness, violence, day and night, and fear of light, in the novel, vampires are very fast and have strong movement and climbing abilities, but they are still in the human category; "The Last Man on Earth" has weaknesses Stupid vampires and new humans; "The Last Man" is a crazy "family"; in the WB version of "I Am Legend", it is the violent and ugly dark hunter.

The setting of the image and abilities of these infected people is very critical, and its importance is self-evident. It affects the entire movie, whether to use technology, the cost budget, and the post-production cycle.

In fact, the WB version has received mixed reviews, and it cannot be said to be very popular. The reason for the great controversy is that on the one hand, the special effects are poor and the Dark Hunters do not have much sense of reality; on the other hand, it is a subversive style. Setting, "I Am Legend" has never been about the living and dead zombies, it is similar to vampires! Do infected people have to be ugly and stupid? Do you need special effects?

As for the concept behind those mutations, the surge of adrenaline causes humans to become stronger and uglier, and they breathe too fast and hyperventilate, so the screams, howls and other sounds they make are somewhat like humans, but not standard...etc. , except for movie fans and CULT fans, not many people care.

During the previous vacation, Wang Yang also thought a lot about this and finally decided to adopt this setting! The dark hunter, who is almost beyond the scope of human beings, can bring a stronger sense of oppression. The image of a savage without intelligence also deepens Neville's loneliness. This is a good change, provided that the special effects are excellent, and he has no intention of doing so. Worry. But he wanted to make it clearer in the film that dark hunters can evolve and are evolving every day. When the story happened, it was when the boss was about to break through an important stage...

"Haha, Yang!"

Just as Wang Yang was immersed in the whole lonely world with his eyes closed, walking farther and farther in the darkness... Suddenly a crisp laughter interrupted his thoughts, making him tremble all over and jump in fright. Starting, he naturally opened his eyes wide, who else could it be if it wasn't Jessica? She had a naughty smile on her face, and when she saw that she succeeded in scaring him, she immediately smiled even more happily: "I hit you! Haha!" Wang Yang shrugged before he could fully recover. Jessica looked at the desk He took the empty water glass and looked at other drawing papers and other things. He stopped laughing and said softly: "Did you fall asleep just now? Be careful of catching a cold. Why don't you sleep? It's getting late."

"No, I'm just thinking about something." Wang Yang rubbed his tired eyes. Jessica knew that he had just come out of the world of "I Am Legend" and would be in a low mood for a while, so she didn't take his coldness seriously. But she found that his eyes were a little wet, and couldn't help but ask: "What are you thinking about? Why are you crying?" Facing her beautiful eyes full of care and love, Wang Yang suddenly laughed out loud, shook his head and said, "So, You can’t let women appear! Absolutely not! Absolutely! It’s really going to kill me!”

Jessica blinked in confusion: "What do you mean?" Wang Yang stood up, stretched his hands with his hands in the air, and said with a smile: "Nothing, women are the best antidote to loneliness, how about Ke Ke?"

"Sleeping." Jessica smiled proudly. Since they made up their mind to teach Keke a lesson, the little guy no longer has so many thoughts of being angry, but sleeps more soundly. Wang Yang nodded, and while packing computers, documents and other things, he asked with interest: "I want to ask you a question." Jessica looked at him: "Tell me!" Wang Yang told her about "I At the end of "Legend", he asked: "How will you feel after reading it?"

"Well, I guess..." Jessica rolled her eyes and said, "Sad, depressed, confused, going crazy, want to hit you..." Listening to these comments, Wang Yang burst out laughing: "Then That’s right, that’s right!”

Looking at his back as he walked out laughing, Jessica followed him in a funny way, jumped a few steps, and punched him, so bad.