Global Film Emperor

Chapter 426 Denial
The pages turned, making a soft, even sound in the quiet room, pleasing to the ear and causing drowsiness to creep in unnoticed. His eyes stung a little, and he wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, pinched his eyelids, and let out a soft sigh.

Hand-drip coffee appears as a pure, transparent brown in the sunlight. Its taste is slightly weaker than that of brewed coffee, but it is purer and cleaner, which is why Lu Ze prefers it. He glanced up at the person sitting opposite him smoking, said nothing, and then lowered his head again to immerse himself in the script.

Fatini's script had been faxed over by Gambiano, and Lu Ze was now reviewing it. After two hours of careful reading, Lu Ze made his final judgment on the script.

This is a fairly pure commercial film, without much depth. It's just about the opposite of life and death, which is enough to pique Lu Ze's interest to some extent. But the rest... is really a bit cliché.

"How about it?"

He looked at Lu Ze expectantly, his eyes filled with confidence in his script. This made Lu Ze swallow the words he was about to say. He frowned, slightly conflicted. After thinking for a moment, he could only pick up the coffee he had just put down, take another sip, and pretend to be savoring the taste of the coffee. He closed his eyes in rapture and gently shook his head.

He's definitely not cut out for screenwriting, Lu Ze was certain of that. The setting of life and death was set by the original screenwriter and had nothing to do with Fatino's later adaptations. Comparing the original screenplay and Fatino's adapted screenplay, the adaptations that Fatino said he had put a lot of effort into actually didn't add much to the original screenplay, and in some places, they even seemed a bit superfluous.

There are very few freaks in the world like Mickey who can write and direct their own scripts. If every director is required to write their own script, then what's the point of having screenwriters? The directors can just do it all. His adaptation was not good, which was within Lu Ze's expectations.

Fatino saw through Lu Ze's subtle denial. He held a cigarette between his fingers, pressed his hands against his head, and became somewhat silent. He was indeed discouraged by Lu Ze. Did he know that he didn't have the talent to be a screenwriter? But he chose to believe that the work he had spent months of hard work adapting was still quite remarkable. But now that Lu Ze had denied it, it was as if all his hard work over the past few months had been in vain.

No one can disregard months of hard work, especially when it involves the word "dream." If he had focused on business during those months, he would have earned more than the profits from a movie. Even if the movie became a blockbuster, it wouldn't change that fact.

"Really... no?"

He seemed to still harbor a sliver of hope, hoping to find a glimmer of hope in Lu Ze's eyes. In fact, he could have ignored Lu Ze's "judgment" and continued to make the movie as he pleased. Even if it lost money, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan would not have mattered to him. He could have just treated it as a way to make himself happy, and he would have spent the money willingly.

But he trusted Lu Ze's vision, believed that he had a thorough understanding of the current commercial film market, and was also dissatisfied with his first film ending in such a mediocre way.

To put it bluntly, it's his pride that's at play. His family education from a young age constantly reminded him that if he's going to do something, he should do it to the best of his ability. He couldn't do it just to give his ideals a peaceful place to sleep, and he wasn't willing to do that.

"You may have watched a lot of assassin movies. I can see that you have incorporated a lot of classic elements into your work, but this has become a drawback. It lacks innovation. Although a clichéd story can be carried by special effects, if you don't want to make the fighting and killing too excessive, the special effects can only play a supporting role. Such a story will not be liked by movie fans."

Lu Ze chose to be honest. There was no need to beat around the bush and deny it anymore. Too many ambiguous statements would make most people feel a glimmer of hope and want to try to change the fact. Fatino might not be that kind of person, but it was possible that he would be reluctant to give up the "good idea" he had been racking his brains for the past few months to try his luck.

"so what should I do?"

“I’m not in a position to offer advice, after all, this is your own work, and you want to finish it yourself, I know that. Besides, I’m not a professional screenwriter, so I can’t give you the right direction. I’m sorry, Fatino.”

"Don't apologize. Thank you for giving me the right judgment. After getting carried away, your cold water helped me calm down. Thinking about it carefully, you're right. I was like a plagiarist, kneading all the classic scenes together and stuffing them into my script. That's shameful. I should thank you. If I had shown the script to my company, they would have just flattered me and made me lose myself even more. I'm so glad you were here. This won't happen. Thank you, buddy."

"After all, you, Gambiano Pictures, are the boss, while at Universal Brothers, we're friends." "Friends..."

He uttered a muttered something, his eyes glazed over for a few seconds, then quickly came to his senses, stacked the scripts together, tapped them on the table, arranged them neatly, and then, ignoring Lu Ze's attempts to stop him, put them into the shredder. Watching his hard work being shredded into pieces, Fatini felt no heartache; instead, his eyes grew increasingly determined.

"What are you..."

"Don't overthink it. I haven't given up. I want to make a movie, a movie that belongs to me. This decision will not change because of a small setback. No matter if it takes one or two years, or even five or ten years, I believe I will wait for its birth. But now, I will not use such a work to humiliate a great acting master who has achieved great success, let alone use it to ruin my friend's reputation and tarnish his resume in the slightest. This is absolutely unacceptable."

Perhaps this is what makes Italians, with their mafia family blood, so important to them than their own gains or losses. It was Lu Ze's words about friendship that moved him, so he felt he had to repay his friend's friendship with sincerity.

"It seems I really need to find some screenwriters to help me. It might take a few months, or it might take a few years. I look forward to the day we meet again. I will be there with my sincerity and a brand new work. My friend, may God bless you."

He stood up, hugged Lu Ze, and prepared to leave. Staying any longer would not yield any results, so he might as well go into seclusion and work hard to produce a work that he was truly satisfied with as soon as possible.

The sound of his leather shoes clicking on the floor masked the gentle tapping of Lu Ze's lighter on the table. He walked to the door, put on his top hat, adjusted the brim, nodded to Lu Ze, and opened the conference room door. A fleeting hesitation crossed Lu Ze's eyes, but he ultimately reached out and said to Fatini…

"Fatini, wait a minute, we're friends, right?"

"Otherwise what? You are a rare friend of mine, Lu Ze."

He stood at the door, turned his head and stared at Lu Ze. He saw Lu Ze slowly light his cigarette, lean back in his chair and chuckle, then lean forward, resting his elbows on the table, supporting his chin and lifting the flesh of his mouth.

"I don't think you need to leave."

"why?"

"Because the best screenwriters in all of Europe who write complex characters, logical storylines, and characters whose good and evil are intertwined are in the UK. If you accept that... I'll call Mickey right now."

"..."

There will be more updates.

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(End of this chapter)