Chatty Hollywood

"That is, you're going to follow up the current trilogy with a story about Captain Jack Sparrow to Disney and call it Pirates of the Caribbean, and we're going to do a story about Will Turner becoming The story behind the captain of the Flying Dutchman, right?”

Everyone fell silent after listening to Charlotte's explanation. After a long time, Lao Qiang finally concluded,

"You think that after the trilogy, the profit from making sequels will be less and less, and it is not worth the effort. I can understand it - shooting a separate story for Will Turner is essentially to reduce the cost of actors, but Why Will Turner and not Captain Jack Sparrow?"

Lao Qiang didn't understand.

"Although I admit that Phoenix's performance is very good, Depp's popularity should be higher, right?"

"Because Disney will definitely feel the same way!"

Charlotte shrugged.

"If we choose the Will Turner line, we can get some money from Disney and the cost can be controlled. If we choose the Captain Jack Sparrow line, let's not talk about how high Depp's salary will rise by then. The key is Disney Will you let go obediently?"

"So, this is just a helpless choice?"

Lao Qiang smiled bitterly and sighed,

“Because Phoenix is ​​cheaper and because we can’t steal Disney?”

"That's not entirely true."

Charlotte shook her head;

"Another very important point is that evil never prevails over good!"

"What!?"

Whether it was Hollywood veterans like Lao Qiang or Mr. Westwood, or Alexis, a ghost who had a close relationship with Charlotte, they all looked confused at this time.

"We are just making a movie, is there any relationship between good and evil?"

"Of course."

Charlotte explained,

"Both you and Disney have been fooled by Captain Jack Sparrow's exaggerated popularity and charm, and have forgotten that he is actually an evil and funny character in the movie."

"You mean-"

As Charlotte's old partner,

Lao Qiang was the first to react,

"——Captain Jack, the protagonist alone, cannot support a complete storyline!?"

"It's not that serious."

Charlotte shook her head;

"However, just like the principle of "using justice to win by surprise" in the military, unless it is a simple comedy, normal characters are still needed after all - just like in many stories, the popularity of the protagonist is often not as good as There are some supporting roles, but we cannot simply think that there is no protagonist and only supporting roles are enough."

Compared with Hollywood movies, this is most obvious in Japanese comics and animations——

Whether it's "Bleach" or "Inuyasha", there are supporting characters who are more popular than the protagonist.

This is certainly due to the excellent characters of the supporting characters, but in the final analysis, it is also because they are just supporting characters.

——Compared to the protagonist who needs to connect the story direction, as the reader's perspective, and whose values ​​cannot be too biased, the supporting characters have a much higher degree of freedom.

They just need to express their own personality and make the people watching like it.

In the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, although Captain Jack Sparrow is not a supporting character, he is not the protagonist in the traditional sense.

——At least in the first part of the series, which has received the most praise, the one who connects the most plots is actually Will Turner, not Captain Jack Sparrow.

In the fourth film "On Stranger Tides", without Will Turner and Elizabeth, who have relatively traditional characters, Captain Jack must shoulder the task of connecting the story and expressing the character's charm and making people like it. , the whole story is obviously a little out of control——

It can be said that although the story of the fourth film "On Stranger Tides" is good, there are not many normal people in it, which makes the audience lose the perspective of the story and lose a sense of immersion.

——When the audience cannot fully immerse themselves in the story, they will naturally become picky.

It can be said that it was precisely because of the failure of "On Stranger Tides" that Disney realized that orthodox male and female protagonists are not useless in the story.

——They are not only the perspective of the audience, but also play a role in connecting the stories and contrasting with the evil Captain Jack, highlighting his charm.

Good and bad in this world all depend on comparison!

So, in the fifth "Dead Men Tell No Tales", Will Turner's son and Captain Barbossa's daughter appeared, and formed a new trio with Captain Jack...

To a certain extent, the character of Captain Jack was originally supposed to be a character similar to the portable grandfather in online novels.

However, the role of this "grandpa" is too powerful, making him more eye-catching than the normal protagonist.

But even so, it doesn't mean that the traditional protagonist can be completely abandoned and "grandpa" can be directly used as the protagonist...

**********

Of course, many of Charlotte's reasons cannot be told to Lao Qiang and Mr. Westwood.

But even so, after he explained that "Captain Jack's charm can only be expressed through the contrast of orthodox characters," everyone understood what he meant——

"What Charlotte said makes sense!"

As a veteran producer, Mr. Westwood first agreed,

"Captain Jack's current charm is indeed obtained through contrast. When he becomes the absolute single protagonist, either the orthodox elements of the film will be completely overwhelmed by the evil elements and become unbalanced, or Jack's own positioning will have to be skewed. elements - which can easily cause the character to lose its charm."

"So a movie with Captain Jack as the absolute protagonist will be more difficult to shoot than a movie with Will Turner, a more orthodox character, as the protagonist!"

Lao Qiang also understood the meaning,

"That being said, compared to Captain Jack Sparrow's popularity, Will Turner's popularity is still somewhat inferior, right?"

“But the pay is also low!”

Because Mr. Westwood didn't know River's true identity yet, Charlotte didn't mention that River was a ghost and the salary paid to him was abnormal.

The point is, even with Phoenix Retton's current status, the pay won't be particularly high.

——Who makes him a "newcomer" after all?

"In this way, we can develop a branch series of "Pirates of the Caribbean" at a lower cost."

Charlotte shrugged and said,

"If this works, we can make a lot of money. If not, the loss won't be too big. And -"

Mr. Director smiled and said,

"Isn't the story behind "The Flying Dutchman" worth looking forward to? - At least, we can make a story with the feel of "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", right?"

"That's a good idea!"

Hearing Charlotte's words, Lao Qiang's eyes also lit up...