Made in Hollywood

Star Wars fans are widespread in North America, and have even formed a kind of cultural inheritance. Even young people born in the 1990s and the new century can talk about Star Wars and the complex relationship between the characters in it, from some kind of To a certain extent, just like Journey to the West is to people on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the influence of Star Wars in North America is beyond doubt.

Duke is very sure of this, and he also knows that a movie is not enough just to rely on feelings.

There is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. More than 95% of older Star Wars fans will enter the theater in the first week of the film's release. They will actively buy tickets to watch it, but they will only watch it once. These hard-working people will not buy Star Wars peripheral products like crazy!

As we all know, the peripherals of Hollywood hit movies are the real focus of profit!

Who are most of the people who watch movies repeatedly and drop dollar after dollar at the box office? teenager!

Who are those people who buy all kinds of toys, figures and posters in such a crazy way that they can't wait to take home the entire series of Star Wars products? teenager!

Who is the person who can continue to pass on the Star Wars culture and make Duke's Lucasfilm rake in money every few years? There is only one answer, teenagers!

Although Star Wars: A New Hope was released as early as the 1970s, the first generation of Star Wars fans are already gray-haired...

Standing at the forefront of the conference table, Duke said firmly, But the biggest consumer group of this project is still the young audience!

Katherine Kennedy and Charles Rowan were nodding slightly, and the others agreed with Duke's statement, George Lucas was no exception.

The family market of Hollywood movies wins the world, and the core component of the family market is teenagers.

Sorry, George...

Duke smiled slightly at George Lucas, I'm afraid I can't use your proposal.

George Lucas said not minding. It's ok.

After all, his relationship with Duke is unusual, and he doesn't mind that the young man he likes almost completely overthrows his setting of the future direction of Star Wars.

Duke turned to look at the other side of the conference table, and said to Robin Grande who returned after the Harry Potter series, Robin, you are in charge of selecting actors, and the crew will hold a large-scale audition. Choose The leading actors should be young enough, preferably relatively unfamiliar faces to the audience.

The script has long been sent to the core members of the team. Duke also revealed a long time ago that he intends to create a youth version of Star Wars and portray a female Jedi as the protagonist.

This is to please the main teenage audience in the market.

The heroine is a girl aged 16-19. Duke told Robin Grande, The other main male character is also of the same age, and the appearance of the actor must meet the requirements.

This is the most basic condition for starring in the male and female protagonists of the film. If these conditions are not suitable, Duke will not use it no matter how good it is in other aspects such as acting.

Duke shook his head at Tina Fey, and Tina Fey immediately handed over a basic requirement for young actors to Robin Grande and others.

Robin Grande glanced at him. The job is not difficult, because Duke's requirements are not complicated.

1. Girls aged 16-19, independent, humorous, thin.

2. Girls aged 16-19, strong, smart, thin.

3. A male in his mid-20s. Witty, thin but not traditionally handsome.

4. Men aged 26-29, handsome and confident, thin.

5. Men in their mid-70s. Have strong opinions and a tough character, don't need to be too thin.

6. Male around 40 years old, military type, thin.

7. Men around 30 years old, smart and quick-witted. Don't need to be too thin.

These are the seven most important characters in the new Star Wars.

Duke... Robin Grande looked away from the document and said, I have a suggestion for you to consider.

Duke made a please gesture.

The number one heroine is definitely a white girl.

There is no doubt about this, Robin Grande suggested, If possible, it is best to set the male actor who will play the female lead as a black person.

I think this proposal is feasible. Charles Rowan echoed.

Sitting back in his seat, Duke also considered this suggestion. Using a black man as the leading actor is indeed a coup in business. Although anti-discrimination slogans are loudly shouted in North America, the racial discrimination is still huge. And there is a fact that cannot be ignored. The number of people of color in the United States is increasing, and there is even a tendency to surpass white people. Using a black person is not only in line with the so-called political correctness, but also can please minority audiences.

I don't think it's necessary to deliberately choose...

In fact, Duke is very clear that the use of blacks in such roles will also bring some negative effects, and he has no feelings for black actors. Whether they are Asian or Latino, they can be candidates.

These are also ethnic minorities, and in other not very important roles, it is enough to find a black actor to play, and it is enough to comfort the broken hearts of black people like glass.

Just like the Oscars, as long as some blockbuster films do not use black actors, they will be protested by Hollywood and some black organizations across the United States. So does deliberately replacing black actors mean discrimination against actors of other ethnicities?

Duke is not the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In the past few years, it has never allowed a black actor to play the real leading role in his film, nor will it make so many problems with black people like Oscar.

He is very sure that if black people are used in the leading role of this film and not used in the next one, there will definitely be many black organizations complaining about him. His time is precious and he has no time to fight with these people, and when the time comes It's not appropriate to say anything.

The preparatory meeting was over, and when Duke left, he was interviewed by a reporter arranged by Warner Bros.

In the face of Warner's media, Duke revealed more information, talking in detail about the doubts in the creation of the Star Wars 7 script, When the audience watched Star Wars in 1977 for the first time, they were very interested in the movie. The universe and stories in the movie are completely unfamiliar. They don’t know who Princess Leia is, Han Solo, or who is the father of Darth Vader. This is a beautiful and strange world. But until now we create For the seventh part of the story, it is difficult to break these conventional understandings.

Regarding the direction of the plot of Star Wars 7 asked by the reporter, Duke said, I will respect the previous stories, but I will not stick to the rules.

And Duke also revealed that he will use CG special effects carefully, abandon the production method of excessive use of computer CG special effects in the prequel trilogy, and re-enable the special effects shooting methods of real robots and miniature models that fans have never forgotten and talked about. With modern CG technology, it is organically combined to truly serve the story itself.

Since Star Wars 7 was confirmed to be filmed, there have been diehard Star Wars fans in various ways to the company, me and George Lucas himself, 'Don't rely too much on CG special effects, we miss the old Star Wars movies' .”

Facing the reporter's microphone, Duke said directly, My team and I and Lucasfilm have actually discussed the possible negative effects of excessive use of CG special effects. In order to better serve the special effects for the story itself, At the same time, to meet the requirements of hardcore movie fans, Star Wars 7 will reuse traditional special effects such as miniature models and real robots, supplemented by necessary computer special effects.

This point Duke said is basically the truth, Star Wars 7 will indeed have fewer computer special effects shots, but this is compared to his past movies with more than 2,000 special effects shots, Duke has never been a conservative People, he knows what effect Star Wars fans want, and he knows how to achieve this effect almost perfectly in the most time-saving and labor-saving way.

For example, in terms of photography, the digital high-definition photography method in HD format used by George Lucas in the Star Wars Prequel trilogy has been criticized by movie fans. Since the day Star Wars 7 was announced, many media and veterans Movie fans are calling for Duke to re-use 35MM format film to shoot this film.

Indeed, Duke chose film, but not the relatively backward 35MM format, but the IMAX version of 70MM film, and he intends to use IMAX cameras to shoot the film as much as possible throughout. If this goal can be achieved, Star Wars 7 It will be the first commercial film with all IMAX lenses in history.

Including Harrison Ford's possible salary of 20 million US dollars, in Duke's original plan, the production cost of Star Wars 7 was 200 million US dollars, which was enough, and the extra 50 million US dollars was invested entirely for IMAX filming Plan your preparations.

When necessary, Duke can also make additional investment in the form of personal investment.

All preparations are going on in an orderly manner, especially the work of inviting old actors from the Star Wars trilogy to return. Except for the difficult negotiation with Harrison Ford, other aspects are progressing quite smoothly.

Kieran Shah, the character actor who played an Ewok and tortured power droids in Jabba's palace in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, signed on quickly; Warwick Davis, who played the role of the Ewok who first discovered Leia, will also join the crew...

In addition, after the establishment of the Star Wars 7 project, many star-level fans also contacted Duke through various means, wanting to play a guest role in this film, even without lines and remuneration.

The most famous of these are British comedian Simon Pegg and Daniel Craig, actor of the new James Bond.

This is also the publicity point at the back of the film, and Duke also verbally promised to give them suitable roles. (to be continued ~^~)

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