Global Film Emperor

Chapter 424 Assassin, Atonement
"No, the female lead shouldn't have done that at this moment. She should have been gentle, and her reaction shouldn't have been so extreme. Do you understand what I mean? If that's her emotion, her next move would definitely be an attack, which doesn't fit the female lead's character."

"This is fucking wrong! That's fucking wrong! God! Have mercy on me! I really can't do this anymore! Why is it so hard to be a white moonlight?!"

Lu Ze rarely saw Mickey so devastated, especially in the realm of film. He was always calm and in control, radiating unparalleled confidence. But now, a purely kind-hearted female lead had shattered him. He couldn't fathom how a woman could remain so kind and optimistic under such circumstances. In his mind, such a woman simply didn't exist.

So he went mad, swung his arm, and slammed the pen on the table. The ink splattered all over him, his face, and even got into his mouth, but he didn't spit it out. He swallowed the ink, crumpled the ink-stained paper into a ball, threw it in the trash can, and his shoulders were shaking as he breathed. He put his hands on his hips and spoke to Lu Ze.

"Help! Help me now! I'm fucking dying because of this damn woman! Why did I even write this script?! What a terrible thing to do!"

Lu Ze could see his reddened eyes and blue teeth. He wanted to laugh, but he had to hold it in. If he laughed out loud now, this mad dog would definitely pounce on him and bite him.

"Why did you write this...? You're asking me?"

"..."

He was silent for a while, then dug his hands into his hair and pulled hard. He leaned against the window frame, convulsing as if he had been electrocuted, and letting out a heart-wrenching scream. If he hadn't been at the company and far from his home, the police would probably have arrived five minutes ago.

Even so, the lights in the mailroom downstairs came on. Old Jill opened the window and craned his neck to look up at the second floor. He was startled by Mickey, thinking he had been poisoned. Not only was his face ashen, but even his tongue was blue.

"Sir! What happened? I'll call the police right away, hang in there! I'll call an ambulance immediately!"

The scream was choked back. He quickly waved his hand, fixed his hair, and waved to Old Gil to indicate that he was fine. After repeated confirmation, Old Gil was finally relieved and pulled his head back to sleep. But just as he was about to close the window, Mickey suddenly asked him a question.

"Jill! Have you ever seen a woman as gentle as moonlight?"

"Yes, sir, I have seen her. My wife was that kind of woman. Although she has been gone for ten years, I remember everything about her. She was gentle and virtuous, and she bore my children without complaint. Although sometimes she would get angry with me and even smash things because I did something wrong, in my eyes she was..."

"Goodnight, Gil! Bang..."

Before old Jill could finish speaking, he slammed the window shut. According to him, his wife was a rare good wife, but not the gentle girl he wanted. Then, the room was filled with pig-like screams again...

Old Jill was completely bewildered, thinking to himself that Mickey was a strange person. He closed the window and was about to go back to bed when he looked out the window again and saw a car parked outside the gate. After checking his identity, the security guard at the gate raised the barrier to let him through. The long car body had a gold waistline. It was a Rolls-Royce, parked in front of Building 1. The back door opened, a brown leather shoe stepped on the ground, and a young-looking man got out of the car.

"Sir, who are you...?"

It was past business hours, so only company employees could be allowed through by security. But he had never seen this person before. He put on his reading glasses, opened the small window, and tentatively asked a question.

"Faltinino Gambiano, the third largest shareholder of Globe Brothers..."

……

"what!!!!!"

"Dong dong dong."

"Who? Come in."

The meeting room door opened, and what Fati saw surprised Fatini. There were specks of ink on the table, the floor, and even the ceiling. Mickey had one leg on the table and was holding up a thick stack of manuscript papers. Judging from his posture, it looked like he was going to smash the papers on the table, but his movements could only stop in mid-air.

Seeing that the visitor was Fatini, Lu Ze and his companion were somewhat surprised. While Mickey absentmindedly placed the manuscript on the table, and Fatini's gaze was on Mickey, Lu Ze quietly stuffed the finalized script into his bag before getting up to greet this young master.

"Fatini! Welcome, my friend! Excuse me, please wait a moment while I change my clothes. It's not very gentlemanly to entertain a friend like this."

The two did not hug or shake hands. Mickey pointed at Fatini with his right thumb behind his back before turning around and leaving to go back to his office to change clothes, leaving Lu Ze to complete the reception. After shaking hands, he gave Fatini a light hug.

Looking at the time, it was already past eight o'clock in the evening. Lu Ze found a clean chair for him to sit down before speaking.

"It's so late, why didn't you tell us you were coming to the company? We could have picked you up."

"It's alright. I have business dealings with other companies here. They picked me up and had dinner with me to discuss some collaborations. After we finished, I didn't want to go straight back to the hotel, so I came over to check on you. Lu, how have you been lately?"

"Not bad, water, coffee, red wine, or whiskey?"

"Just a glass of water will do. How's filming going lately?" The two chatted for a short while before Mickey returned, dressed neatly. He greeted Fatini again, sat down with her, and joined their conversation. It wasn't until almost nine o'clock that he shifted the topic to business, which was why he had come at night.

"Here's the thing, the script for the movie I'm preparing to shoot is now complete, including the adaptation of the original literary work and the storyboard design. The only thing I lack now is on-set guidance experience. I came here today to ask you two if I could join Mendeleev's film crew to learn a bit. I also hope to have more exchanges with Mr. Lu and work together more. Of course, I will sign confidentiality agreements and other clauses, and as a shareholder of the company, I will not do anything out of line."

Lu Ze and Mickey exchanged a glance. Mickey decided to speak first, coughed with his fist to his mouth, crossed his arms, and leaned on the table to begin.

"Of course, no problem. When you first enter the industry, you do need to learn a lot. If you have time, Fatini, you can serve as the assistant director of the crew. Your name will also be added to the creative team. Once you have accumulated enough knowledge, we can start filming one of your works."

Mickey's repeated mention of learning was a subtle way of telling Fatini that while she could join the crew, she was just a newbie there to learn, and shouldn't be expected to offer unsolicited advice. With Fatini's emotional intelligence, she naturally understood and nodded in agreement with a smile.

At this moment, Lu Ze took over the topic and shifted to another aspect. He had not promised that he would definitely film Fatini's works, but this had nothing to do with the distinction between commercial and artistic works. What Lu Ze valued was the story and whether it could attract him.

“Fatini, I appreciate your high regard for me as your first choice for the male lead in your film, but an assassin, and a European assassin at that, I may not be the most suitable candidate.”

"Who says that all European killers are European? Does that mean all Asians in Europe are dentists or software engineers? Here, let me show you something."

He took out his wallet and pulled out one of the photos. The photo was old, with yellowed edges and faded colors, but the exposure was much deeper. It was covered with tiny scratches and depicted a white boy in a children's suit holding the hand of an elderly man with yellow skin, also dressed in a suit. He pointed to the boy and acknowledged him.

“This is me, and this… is the prototype of the assassin. I admit that my family has some dark history in the past, so we needed some people to help us do some shady things. One of them was my grandfather’s right-hand man, who was involved in murder, arson, bombing, and poisoning cases. But he was very good to me. He passed away the year before last, and I want to commemorate him.”

"So you filmed his story?"

Lu Ze and Mickey carefully examined the photo. The old man in the photo had no beard, had a kind face, and was very tall. Although he was old, he stood very straight and was not bloated. He looked down at his childhood friend Fatini and smiled. It seemed that his love for him came from the bottom of his heart.

"No, his story will only exist in my memory. I don't want to share his story with others, nor do I want the person who once took me to fish in the river and climb trees to catch birds to be branded as an executioner. Although he was, I don't want more people besides his enemies to insult him. I just want to create someone similar to him so that I can mourn him in front of the screen."

He spoke with emotion, gently stroking the person in the photo with his fingers. Perhaps in his privileged upbringing, he also had a childhood in the style of a traditional Chinese village. For a child with strict family education, the memory of using a bamboo pole to catch dragonflies by weaving spider silk is invaluable.

"So what are you trying to say about this story?"

"I didn't bring a script, this is a synopsis, please take a look."

He took out another slip of paper from his wallet. Lu Ze took it, opened it, smoothed out the creases, and read it carefully.

"In his youth, Lee was a cold-blooded assassin who retired from the underworld due to his advanced forensic techniques. His children cut off contact with him, leaving him a lonely old man. Until he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, his will to live drove him back into the ring. Using ancient assassination methods, he murdered others to buy drugs to sustain his life. One day, he accepted a huge bounty, and during the mission, he discovered a massive conspiracy targeting his descendants..."

First of all, Lu Ze had to affirm the creativity of the script. As an assassin, he was on the opposite side of life, but as a human being, the will to survive is also an instinct. The story of him teetering between life and death is indeed very interesting, and the reasons are very good. It creates an assassin who has not been mythologized and still fears death.

And it's an assassination technique, not like in other assassin movies where a single person with only flesh and blood can take on a hundred enemies and wipe them out in a hail of bullets. That's not an assassin, that's a terminator.

They swaggered in and started fighting, unleashing machine guns and rocket launchers. The idea was that if they killed everyone present, no one would discover their presence. That's ridiculous!

An assassin is not a serial killer who will not murder an entire family. Usually, the target is only one person. Regardless of success or failure, he will retreat after one strike. He may not be as strong as a normal person and may not be able to fight well. His marksmanship may not be as accurate as a soldier's, but his ability to hide must be outstanding. His trap design must be ingenious, and his mental fortitude must be strong. He may be proficient in one of the following disciplines: mechanics, mechanical engineering, or chemistry. Because as long as he is proficient in one discipline, he can easily kill someone and collect his commission.

He can create alibis, he can cover up a murder as an accident, and he can transform the victim from a victim into a pitiful unlucky guy. This is the real killer skill that Lu Ze learned in the systematic course. As for those killers in movies who wear suits and kill a train car full of people to complete a mission, that's just not realistic.

So Lu Ze was pleased to see that Fatini presented this kind of script instead of wanting him to be a god. However, the main plot involving his family seemed no different from that of a typical assassin movie, so Lu Ze couldn't agree immediately and had to wait and see the quality of the story.

When would be a convenient time for me to see the script?

"Tomorrow, I'll have them fax the script over."

"Okay, so what's the name of the movie...?"

"Atonement is about atoning for the lack of family affection."

"..."

(End of this chapter)