Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 117 Titanic

"Titanic?"

Hearing the name Colin said, Howard Hughes' fingers holding the cigar couldn't help but pause.

He was seven years old when the ship sank.

However, I was also impressed by the incident of the Titanic. At that time, the sinking of the giant ship shocked the entire United States, and major newspapers published news of the sinking of the giant ship for a month.Even now, he can still recall the shocked expression of his father Hughes when he saw the news of the sinking of the Titanic.

"So, what do you mean?"

Seeing the change in the expression on Hughes' face, Colin knew that he had achieved his goal.

He smiled slightly, and under the gaze of Hughes, he continued: "Don't you think all this is very dramatic? A huge ship that claims to be unsinkable has encountered bad luck on its maiden voyage. Titan The sinking of Nickelodeon is certainly sad, but it is also a source of inspiration..."

"If the story of this giant ship can be moved to the big screen, what kind of attention and discussion will it arouse?"

As a rich man, Howard Hughes didn't have a deep pursuit of money, so Colin deliberately directed him to focus.

"The sunken ship?"

Obviously, Colin's approach worked.

Hughes fiddled with the cigar in his hand, muttering Colin's description of the Titanic.

"In fact, as far as I know, as early as 1898, the British writer Morgan Robertson once wrote a novel called "In vain"..."

"The novel describes an unsinkable luxury ship named Titan, which sails from England to the United States on the other side of the ocean for the first time. This is the largest and most luxurious passenger ship in the history of human navigation. The ship is equipped with At that time, all the luxury facilities that were within the reach of the ship were full of rich passengers, and people enjoyed themselves on this giant ship.”

"However, this huge ship hit an iceberg on the way for the first time, and sank tragically. Many passengers were buried in the bottom of the sea. Everything is like a true portrayal of the sinking of the Titanic..."

There is no way to verify the source of inspiration for Morgan Robertson's "In vain".

Because, three years after the sinking of the Titanic, the author committed suicide in the Alamac Hotel room in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA in 1915.

As for Colin, the reason why he mentioned him was only to add a little legendary color to the whole story of the giant wheel.

"So, why me?"

There is no doubt that Hughes has been convinced by the story about the Titanic that Colin said. He stared at the man in front of him and couldn't help asking.

"For me, the only director in Hollywood who can shoot the Titanic, there is no second choice except you, Mr. Hughes."

On this point, Colin did not lie.

A director who can spend 400 million US dollars to shoot a movie is simply unique in this era of Hollywood.

Colin's words obviously benefited Hughes very much.

"In addition, in "Hell's Angels", Mr. Hughes conquered the sky, why can't he conquer the sea again in the Titanic?"

"Conquer the sea?!"

For an idealist like Howard Hughes, there is nothing that can make his heart surge more than the words of conquering the sea in Colin's mouth.

"Then let's conquer the sea!"

Turning his head and looking at the aircraft repair shed under construction in the distance, Hughes agreed to Colin's movie invitation without hesitation, even though he had never seen the script about the Titanic that Colin said from the beginning to the end.

"As far as I know, many of the families of the victims of the sinking of the giant ship are still alive. If the story about the Titanic is filmed like this, it may attract their protest."

And at this moment, Roy on the side reminded him.

Roy worried that making a movie about the Titanic would cause controversy, but Hughes himself didn't care about it.

"If they want to protest, I'd be more than happy to send them movie tickets when the movie is in theaters, so that they can witness the scene of the sinking of the giant ship on the screen. Then, tell them, if they are angry, go to the original building of Titanic. The shipyard of the USS, the cruise line to protest, if those companies still exist."

Howard Hughes is not a person who is afraid of getting into trouble. On the contrary, he has an unusual and crazy pursuit of movies.

He dared to fly the plane himself in "Hell's Angels", and also dared to shoot real violent scenes in the "Scarface" movie based on the real gangster Al Capone.

This is also why he uncharacteristically agreed after hearing Colin's movie idea about the Titanic.

Because, he felt a huge challenge from it, and this is exactly what he was after.

"On this point, I have already said before that Morgan Robertson's "In vain" describes a story that is very similar to reality, and I happen to have the copyright of a novel in my hand."

Francis, this Colin recruited for the Courier newspaper.

Before losing his job, he worked in a publishing house, specializing in collecting and arranging European publications for domestic distribution, and has rich experience in handling the copyright of these foreign works.

Through his arrangement, Colin successfully found Morgan Robertson's widow and bought the copyright of "In vain".

Anyway, in this day and age.

The copyright of the novel is not expensive, especially for a lesser-known author like Morgan Robb. If it weren't for the sinking of the Titanic, perhaps not many people would have noticed this novel at all.

From Colin's description, Roy understood his purpose, and from the very beginning, he came for the filming of the Titanic.

but why?
Roy wouldn't be surprised if he wanted Howard Hughes to make a Superman movie.

Because, in this way, the popularity of "Superman" in his hand can be increased, so as to earn more income.

However, Roy really couldn't connect the Titanic with Superman, so he couldn't insert the plot of Superman into the Titanic.

Like, he couldn't connect Howard with the hangar.

Standing on the dusty construction site, Roy looked at the two Roy who were talking with Hughes in front of him, and a feeling of incompatibility emerged spontaneously.

But inexplicably, he had a premonition.

Hollywood, perhaps because of the existence of the two, will undergo earth-shaking changes.

And the source of the change may start from the humble construction site in Burbank.

(End of this chapter)