The Best Director

Chapter 224: Losers Play Slot Machines

Just two days after “The Queen in Prada” crew returned to Los Angeles and disbanded, the World Health Organization announced the lifting of the travel ban on Beijing. With this, all the travel restrictions on Chinese cities due to the SARS epidemic were lifted, and China’s inbound tourism was reopened. This was good news for the overseas promotion plan of “MIT-21-TEAM” in China.

On the entertainment sections of many Chinese portal websites such as Sina and Sohu, news related to “Wang Yang’s visit to China in August” gradually increased. In a recent phone interview with NetEase, Wang Yang expressed his excitement, saying, “I am looking forward to this trip and hope that Chinese fans can get to know him better,” and he wished patients suffering from SARS a speedy recovery.

Unless there are unexpected censorship issues, “MIT-21-TEAM” is scheduled to be released in mainland China on August 16th, Beijing time. There won’t be any problems with violence, pornography, or politics in terms of censorship, but the gambling theme is a taboo for the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. Popular Hong Kong movies of the past such as “God of Gamblers” and “Gambling Heroes” have never entered the mainland market.

Initially, the China Film Group was unsure about this import cooperation. Under policy and market constraints, even if movie fans nationwide were clamoring to see the film, the censors remained unmoved and might even ban it. However, with the birth of the first Chinese Oscar Best Director and with Firefly Films changing the positioning and promotion of “MIT-21-TEAM” in mainland China, this card-counting film finally had a chance to be screened in China’s theaters.

It didn’t utilize the term “gambling film”; instead, it was marketed as a plot biopic, a confrontation between the geniuses from MIT and a female detective… Even the poker card posters’ taglines avoided gambling, merely stating, “Adapted from a true story, an exhilarating genius showdown!”, “Best Director Wang Yang’s latest directorial work!” and a few others.

In North America, Europe, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, several poster slogans for “MIT-21-TEAM” conveyed the main idea, “If you must gamble, how can you win?” This was the actual recruitment slogan of the MIT blackjack team. Other taglines included “Las Vegas is losing money big time!”, “Losers play slot machines, big winners play 21.”, “The genius brigade takes you to conquer Las Vegas!” and other regional slogans…

As for whether the censors will make major cuts during the review process, it is still an unknown, although Firefly Films has expressed a strong desire for “no cuts.” However, in America, this movie has still not been submitted to the MPAA for rating.

“If you must gamble, how can you win?”, “There’s no winning in gambling.”… “Why do you have to do this?” In the dimly lit screening room, the film was playing on the silver screen on the wall. Wang Yang, Margaret Goodspeed, Christopher Beck, Wally Strant, and a few other key creatives sat quietly in their chairs, watching the final cut of the film. The soundtrack occasionally played, alternating between the cheerful country vibes of a college campus and the vigorous, explosive energy of wild rock.

At Wang Yang’s suggestion, Firefly Films and Columbia Records also reached a partnership agreement for the soundtrack, eventually choosing to use some songs from the band AC/DC, such as “T.N.T.”, “Shoot to Thrill”, and others.

“Down, Down, Down——” As the powerful music played, on the screen was a segment with rapid changes in shots advancing the story’s timeline. Daniel Wu sat smiling at the gambling table, looking in one direction where the card-counter Alexis stood up and Natalie sat down, also smiling at someone; in the next shot, the look and layout of the casino had changed, Daniel Wu had a different outfit, but the chips on the table kept piling up with each scene change, growing into mountains…

“Shoot-you! Shoot-you! Shoot-you-down!——” Listening to the hoarse shouts of AC/DC, watching the MIT blackjack team members laugh and rise from their seats to leave on the screen, Wang Yang couldn’t help but let out a satisfied hum, nodding in approval, “Wow, exhilarating! Exhilarating… You know, comfortable, wonderful!”

“Exhilarating” is a common Chinese slang term in the script of Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” series. Having seen it often recently, he sometimes naturally blurts it out.

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Best Director turned his head and surveyed everyone with a confident smile, “Unless my aesthetic has become non-human, why wouldn’t it look good?” Margaret uttered an “oh,” nodding slightly, “It does feel more exciting now… This music, it’s frantic.” Christopher Beck, the composer, also spoke with full confidence and appreciation, “But it’s Wonderful!”

“This segment of footage was edited beautifully,” Wally Strant also praised. There wasn’t this sweeping sensation of Las Vegas during the on-set filming, but after the editing and adding this noisy soundtrack, the result was very effective. It carried the excitement and sense of achievement that the director had spoken of on set.

“I still think it’s too fast, in many places…” Margaret pondered as she adjusted her glasses. Watching the car chase scenes on the small screen, Best Director suddenly laughed, “It’s breaking away from the formula, right?”

The movie “Winning 21” was a very formulaic Hollywood film. It seemed like from the start, the producers just wanted to make a neat commercial piece with romance, betrayal, friendship, dreams, confusion, and family affection… They had taken the official “Hollywood Commercial Movie Elements Chart” and put everything in it, trying to touch every base, but ultimately crumbling awkwardly into a pile of rubble, losing the original charm of the story.

The only way for the movie to have the potential to become a classic was to capture and execute that original charm and aura well. What is the original charm and aura? Mathematical theories, card-counting skills, team operations, technology; the story of a rebellious genius, a group of people deeply imbued with the MIT spirit. Explosive action films could be seen almost every day on the big screens of cinemas, “intellectual action films,” however, were not.

This subject provided such an opportunity. “Winning 21” completely missed it, and Best Director would not allow himself to miss it as well, refusing to make any of the same mistakes.

Get rid of the tedious and verbose elements like “romance, betrayal,” and there’s no need for sentimental depictions of “friendship, team loyalty,” sometimes a friendly pat on the shoulder is enough. The card-counting operations that “Winning 21” glossed over, however, were precisely where he concentrated his efforts, striving to showcase these original charms. Of course, Best Director also understood why “Winning 21” was so infatuated with those distractions.

Because this legendary story needed to be set in motion, they felt that card counting could not carry a film on its own; it wasn’t possible to just repeatedly show the protagonists winning money at the gambling tables. Therefore, their method was to add plot details. But his approach was to outwit detectives; the focus of the first half of the story was Jeff Ma joining the MIT team and bringing a qualitative change in earning money; the latter half focused on how a female detective would catch them, with nothing superfluous besides these two threads.

To add even more dynamism, he edited shots with rapid-sharpness, used sharp quick-witted dialogue, explosive music, and interspersed with some action scenes like “driving fast”… capturing the rebelliousness, the youthful recklessness.

“That’s it!” Hearing Best Director mention breaking away from the formula, Margaret quickly nodded assertively, “Yes, that’s it! It’s not formulaic, which should be good, but could it be too thorough?” So thorough that it becomes a Cult film, with rapid crazy cuts alongside long slow shots, extensive use of flashbacks, montages, parallel montages, and the storytelling structure flipping between two interlaced narratives.

Now with music added, she also understood what he meant by “This movie is rebellious!”

Composer Christopher Beck pondered and said, “It really is special! Even though there are no action scenes, when I did the music, I always felt this explosiveness.” He then remembered those beautiful and delicate shots and couldn’t help but laugh, “And sometimes it’s very calming and soothing.”

“Thank you! That’s the psychological atmosphere created by the combination of shots and dialogue… this is it,” said Best Director with a smile, his arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair; and everyone continued to quietly watch the film. After all, at this stage of the “inspection,” there would basically be no changes.

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The images on the silver screen continued to move swiftly, and the sound continued to emanate from the speakers, “Ma’am, ma’am! Please stop… I already know, it was you, wasn’t it?” “Non-capisco-quello-che-dici?” … “The game is over!” … “That’s it! So, losers play slot machines.” On the screen, Natalie smiled as she pulled the lever, “Let’s try gambling then!”

The clinking sound hadn’t stopped when an enthusiastic youthful song started to play, and the crew list appeared on the screen, “Director: Wang Yang; Screenwriters: Wang Yang, Ben Mezrich; Producers: Wang Yang… Starring: Daniel Wu—Jeff Ma, Natalie Portman—Amanda Cardeny, Rachel McAdams—Beverly Keel…”

“Who knows whether there’s any cursing in those final lines?” In the MPAA headquarters screening room, ten members of the ratings board looked at each other perplexedly. Someone shrugged and shook their head as if to say “No” or perhaps “I didn’t hear it clearly”; someone else suddenly said, “I need a break.” Todd Morris picked up the remote control, rewound the scene, and said, “Let’s watch it one more time, I remember there wasn’t any.”

Suddenly, a fast and clear male voice filled the screening room again, and after watching, they were certain; there wasn’t any.

“Oh!” Karen Wald, who was packing up her notebook, let out a chuckle filled with emotion, her heart still excited, seemed filled with new knowledge, and for a moment, she couldn’t calmly reflect. She laughed and said, “That magical Yang always surprises people! We have ‘The Hangover,’ so crude and funny, in Las Vegas, and then there’s this movie… so smart and fun. I really like him a lot!”

“You’re a fan.” Another rater, Brett Carey, tapped his notebook with the tip of his pen and shrugged, saying, “I don’t think it’s that great. It gives off an arrogant vibe, both the director and the characters, as if saying, ‘You’re all fools!'” Karen Wald disagreed, shaking her head and saying NONONO, while Matt Stark joined in the discussion, “This movie, well… I found it very satisfying.”

He had seen everything he had hoped for, and it was better than expected; it felt like everything was just right, leaving him filled with a desire to drink and be merry. Thinking about this, Matt Stark said with a laugh, “That line is still stuck in my head, ‘Winner-winner, Chicken-dinner.'”

“I always think of that one line,” Karen Wald laughed, “Because We Can. Ha ha! I think young people will definitely like it, it’s very cool…” Brett Carey suddenly said, “That’s the arrogance I was talking about!”

“Losers play slot machines,” Todd Morris said softly, flipping through the notes in his notebook, then after a long pause, he declared, “PG-13 rating!”

Finally, “MIT-21-TEAM,” with a production cost of $28 million and a running time of 125 minutes, passed the MPAA review with a PG-13 rating in North America, indicating that children under 13 years of age should be accompanied by a parent when watching. Meanwhile, the movie passed censorship in various countries around the world that will screen it in August, and Firefly Films had already started the copying work with the duplication company, preparing to deliver reels of film to numerous theater chains.

During summer break, besides weekends, there were especially many people going to the movies every evening, and the fierce summer movie competition had new developments every day.

The perfect “Finding Nemo” had already nabbed close to $300 million at the North American box office, the roaring “2 Fast 2 Furious” received a panning from critics and audiences, with a 36% freshness rating and a 59% audience approval on Rotten Tomatoes. Although it netted $120 million in North America, it was not considered successful, as it was supported by the popularity of the first installment. Now, facing a setback in reputation, the production company Universal Studios was already planning to look for a new director, screenwriter, and production team for “Fast & Furious 3,” trying to create a new story.

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As for the industry’s uncommon move to follow trends, the car racing action movie “Furious Cars” suddenly seemed to lack confidence. If it were a stock, “2 Fast 2 Furious” bad news would have already caused it to plummet by more than half. Although the long list of producers includes the renowned Wang Yang, the film is directed by Justin Lin, who had yet to prove his commercial direction capabilities.

Especially now, as the “Chinese Director” stock is currently suffering a steep decline.

Last year, John Woo directed “Windtalkers” with a production budget of $115 million, only to see a global box office return of $70 million. MGM, the production company, suffered a heavy blow and had to restructure its top management, still struggling in the mire. That incident once caused the “Chinese Director” stock to plummet. However, John Woo had not completely wrecked his reputation; Paramount handed him a $60 million investment for the sci-fi action film “Paycheck,” set to release this Christmas season.

This was John Woo’s do-or-die battle. If he couldn’t deliver a respectable box office and critical reception for the action movie genre he excels in, it’s unlikely that any Hollywood studios would dare entrust him with tens of millions or even a hundred million to helm another project.

The stock plunged primarily due to Ang Lee. After winning Best Director at the Golden Globes in 2001 for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and achieving outstanding box office results, Ang Lee became a hot target for many studios. Eventually, he chose Universal Studios’ “The Incredible Hulk,” a big-budget special effects film with $137 million in production costs, massive omnipresent advertising, and ambitious beginnings.

But the ending wasn’t as wonderful. After a moderately successful $81.74 million opening week from June 20-26, it suffered due to mediocre reviews, with the second-week box office plummeting by 66.9% to only $27.03 million, and the third-week to $12.21 million. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, it had a 34% audience approval rating and 55% critical freshness. “Heaviness just for the sake of pretentious art,” “the overrated Ang Lee,” “a colossal disaster,” “Ang Lee turned it into something as unsettling as a horror film”…

While there were some who loudly praised it, commending Ang Lee for contributing a unique superhero film with psychological depth and high quality as usual, the fact that he did not manage the pacing of the first half of the film well was undeniable and an irrevocable failure. With North American box office earnings stalled at $120 million and overseas revenues seemingly struggling to reach $100 million, Ang Lee, “The Incredible Hulk,” and Universal Studios all faced a crushing defeat.

The “Chinese Director” stock was plummeting, Ang Lee’s reputation and the confidence of the studios in him plummeting to an unprecedented low. No Hollywood studio would dare to touch this bad luck, and it seemed that Ang Lee had no chance of turning things around.

The box office result of “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” released on June 27, could also only be considered mediocre, taking three weeks to earn just $85 million, a 54% audience approval rating, and 44% critical freshness. Poor reviews meant recovering the $120 million production cost solely from the box office was difficult. “Terminator 3,” released on July 2, also didn’t fare well, also with a 54% audience approval rating, and the box office was barely breaking even; “Legally Blonde 2” also only had a 57% approval rating…

Audiences were extremely difficult to please, and garnering unanimous acclaim from both the audience and critics was an incredibly challenging task. As time reached mid-July, this year’s summer season entered the final one and a half months of competition, with several more films set to release. If the “Chinese Director” stock really existed, it would have been heavily acquired by many investors during its fall, because this summer, there was still Wang Yang and the upcoming movie “MIT-21-TEAM.”

However, aside from a minority of gambling investors, few people would heavily invest in it. This film contained many unstable elements: the gambling theme, a Chinese male lead… and even a cursed theory—”After winning Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Director, will Wang Yang face a Waterloo like Ang Lee?”

The die-hard fans naturally didn’t care, especially the Chinese fans worldwide who were full of confidence in the miraculous Wang Yang. They believed he would surely revitalize the “Chinese Director” stock, quickly rebounding from the slump brought by “The Incredible Hulk.” (To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please visit . There are more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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