American Entertainment: Starting with playing the role of Little Beaver

Chapter 94 Four Heroes Behind the Laughter

In Isabella's previous life, because Alfonso Cuarón took on the role in "Azkaban" without having read "Harry Potter," the film adaptation he directed differed significantly from the original story.

The most unacceptable move for book fans, and even casual readers, was Alfonso Cuarón's removal of the scene where Harry Potter lifts the Quidditch cup for the first time after joining Gryffindor.

The reason why book fans can't accept it is because Quidditch is a sport that runs through the entire series. Without it, it's like cooking without seasoning; it just doesn't taste right, and it has no flavor no matter how you eat it.

The reason why casual viewers couldn't accept it was that after the trophy-winning scene was removed, Alfonso's version of *Azkaban* couldn't even make sense in terms of its own narrative. In Alfonso's film, the story ends with Harry receiving a rocket crossbow from Sirius Black, a gift that excites him greatly, but with Quidditch gone... this grafted ending just seems inexplicable.

However, to be fair, the poor quality of Alfonso's version of "Azkaban" cannot be entirely blamed on Alfonso, because even at the peak of his career, the director did not obtain the highest power in the film industry—the final cut.

When he could no longer direct as freely as Chris Columbus, he ruined Azkaban.
It's hard not to say that Warner Bros. is shifting the blame.

Because Isabella knew that Quidditch was really important, she made a point of checking the script for Azkaban earlier this year to make sure that Columbus hadn't cut the championship scene before she was finally relieved.

Right now, they are filming the Quidditch final.

Gryffindor versus Slytherin.

The scene where Harry Potter flies on a broomstick will definitely be filmed in a studio, because it requires wire work, since Daniel Anthony can't fly. But the entrance, the confrontation, and the commentators cheering them on are all real locations; the filming location, Evanhoe, is right next to Leavesden.

After shouting a few times as Columbus requested, Isabella's close-up shots for the day were finished. Now, all she had to do was stand in the background with the extras and cheer and make a scene for Harry.

Because today's work was easy, the little girl smiled genuinely when she sat down. Her adorable appearance made the dean sitting next to her turn to the side and say, "Isa, Chris is really naughty, isn't he?"

"Huh?" The girl didn't understand the sudden words.

Turning her head to look at Professor McGonagall, Maggie Smith laughed and said, "Chris knows you're a singer now, and yet he still makes you film these kinds of scenes that strain your voice. Oh~~~ that guy is so mean~~~"

"..." Isabella pouted.

"Ms. Maggie, are you scolding Chris or teasing me?"

"Why do I feel like... you're saying, 'I'm already so famous, yet I still do all the things myself when filming'?"

The young girl's insightful observation and subsequent commentary only deepened the old professor's smile.

"What do you think?" She winked at Isabella.

"I think you're complimenting me."

After exchanging a glance with the old lady, the young girl said earnestly, "Because you know, I like to hear nice things, so you're praising my professionalism, right? Even though I need to protect my voice right now, I still diligently completed every shot during filming. Oh~~~ I'm really great~~~"

"hahaha——"

Maggie Smith laughed out loud.

The little girl's boastful manner amused her greatly.

After glancing around the arena and making sure that chatting wouldn't disturb the filming, she said, "Isha, I have a question for you."

“Teacher Maggie, you can just tell me directly.”

"Do you find making movies more fun or singing?"

“Uh…” Isabella thought for a moment and said, “From what I’m feeling right now, I think it’s like making a movie…”

"Why?" Maggie Smith asked curiously.

"Because you have to use your brain when you sing, and you can be my brain when you're filming."

The young girl started talking nonsense with a straight face: "Music is an industry that emphasizes individual power, so when I make songs, a lot of people listen to me. If I make a mistake, it's all over. This puts a lot of pressure on me. But acting is different. If you stand next to me and I don't act well, you can criticize Chris for directing badly. With you backing me up, I have no pressure at all."

"That's why I think filming is fun; you can just have fun without having to take responsibility."

"..."

Maggie Smith's lips twitched.

He met the little girl's eyes.

Only when both of them could no longer hold back did the old lady reach out and hit Isabella.

"Isha! You're getting naughtier and naughtier!"

The little girl's body went limp, and she leaned against the old lady, laughing incessantly.

"Oh, Ms. Maggie, if you keep hitting me like this, I'm going to call the police and say you're abusing my child!"

"I don't think you'd want to be in the news as a bad wizard, would you?"

Perhaps the sound was a bit too loud?
Before Isabella could finish speaking, the people around her burst into laughter.

This fact puzzled Columbus, who was present at the scene.

Turning his head, he saw Isabella standing and sitting haphazardly, so he grabbed the director's microphone and yelled, "Isabella! I know you're a diva now! But this is a film set! Not a stage!"

"If you keep causing trouble, I'll beat you up!"

"..."

The little girl whose name was called sat down again.

Since she hadn't intentionally disrupted the filming, it was clearly Maggie Smith who spoke to her first! So, as Columbus turned around, she glared angrily at Professor McGonagall and muttered, "You're just as bad as Snape now."

"You actually let your student take the blame for you?"

'Hehehehehe~'

The little girl's aggrieved question elicited a silent chuckle from the old lady.

With her head held high and striking a pose like a stern headmistress, Maggie Smith said, "A superstar has to take on more responsibility than others, so, darling, this is what you should be doing."

"..."

The little girl's face fell.

hum~
Ignore her~
Because the anti-good alliance's attacks were really intense, and those people had only one goal when they attacked, that is, to kill Isabella, everyone in the Azkaban crew knew about the previous storm.

At first, everyone was indignant and felt sorry for Isabella.

After spending a lot of time together, everyone knows what kind of person Isabella is and understands that the outside attacks are just rumors.

But after Isabella pulled out "Party in the USA"...

The gossip on set changed in an instant.

Previously, even though everyone in the group knew that Isabella had musical talent and could write songs at a young age, they thought she was just average. If they had to describe her talent, when they said Isabella was amazing, it was actually a commercial compliment.

Even though they thought Isabella's songs were indeed good, they believed that HP was largely responsible for the high sales.

If Isabella weren't Hermione Granger, her album probably wouldn't have been such a phenomenal success.
But with the release of "Party in the USA"...

Everyone then realized that they had misjudged Isabella's talent.

Although most of the crew members still couldn't analyze the song from a professional perspective, that didn't matter.

Because everyone can understand the meaning of this song.

Everyone knows that "Party in the USA" is a rebuttal to Eminem.

Everyone knows that "Party in the USA" is a satire of Eminem.

But no one could find direct evidence that Isabella was dissing people.

When Isabella could write songs to insult people without using any profanity, and still make sure everyone knew who she was insulting, her incredible skill left everyone on set speechless!

From that moment on, people in the crew started calling Isabella "Queen of Pop"!
There is no 'small'.

After "Party in the USA" quickly topped the charts, everyone on the set started calling her "Queen," jokingly calling her that the most enthusiastically, because Isabella's performance was truly outstanding, and she was indeed very down-to-earth.

"Oh—our Diva's causing trouble again today—"

"Oh—our Diva has contributed another behind-the-scenes video!"

"Oh—will our director be added to our Diva's assassination blacklist—after all, the director threatened her today—"

"..."

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Master Yi, who had been busy all day, finally got off work.

On the way back to the base, the bus was filled with constant laughter and banter.

The teasing from all sides made Isabella blush.

Sitting in the front, she looked back like a bully and said fiercely, "I'm giving you a chance. If you don't shut up now, you'll all be on my assassination list."

"At that time, everything you do on set will become a song and spread all over the world."

"hahahaha——"

His blunt words drew a burst of laughter from everyone.

Rupert pointed at Isabella and said to Columbus, "Director! Isabella committing terrorism on set? Don't you think she should be punished?"

Before Columbus could reply, Isabella had already threatened Rupert.

"Radish, if I were you, I would take my hand back."

"Why?" Rupert didn't understand Isabella's meaning.

Daniel, sitting next to him, scoffed, "Because she can write an entire song for you."

"Imagine a song called 'Rupert Grint' suddenly appearing on Billboard, the first line being, 'When we first met, we were all young, Rupert was the one who was always late for interviews,' wow—that's so cool—"

Rupert shuddered and withdrew his hand.

“Isabella, I was just kidding.” He looked at Isabella timidly.

"I have a lot of embarrassing stories, so you absolutely must not write me into a song."

Isabella rolled her eyes.

Another burst of laughter erupted inside the car.

"hahahaha——"

Although everyone in the crew enjoyed making Isabella happy, Isabella didn't care.

Or perhaps she actually quite likes this kind of life, because it's easy and enjoyable.

While striving for fame and fortune is human nature, endless struggles often only bring disgust and mental exhaustion.

So, how about taking a moment of peace and quiet amidst the hustle and bustle?

Oh~
This is truly the best way to relax.

After the laughter subsided, any grudges that never existed naturally disappeared.

At the same time, Isabella heard a "plop plop" sound behind her. Turning around, she saw it was the young master.

She raised her eyebrows, signaling him to speak frankly.

The young master, who understood her meaning, spoke directly—

"Isa, to celebrate your recovery, we'd like to invite you to a movie."

'6! '

The old routine made Isabella feel like she had gone back two years.

"Dinosaurs, right?" she asked back.

When the long-buried memories resurfaced, the young master was speechless.

Those around them who had been watching the outcome fell silent. Isabella immediately turned her gaze away at their expressions of wanting to argue but not knowing how to begin.

"Director, someone wants to organize an event to watch a movie."

Isabella still remembers Columbus's instructions.

After they became famous, it became harder for them to appear as a group.

therefore……

"What are you looking at?"

Columbus understood Isabella's meaning and turned to look at the group behind the car.

"Pirates of the Caribbean." Are you all grown up now, little kids? Just honestly give us the movie title.

When the name "Pirates of the Caribbean" appeared, Columbus's face showed surprise.

He glanced at Isabella and, seeing that the little girl was also somewhat surprised, nodded knowingly.

He gestured to his producer, Michael Barnason, who was sitting next to him, to try to book the entire theater.

The fact that everyone agreed made the people on the bus cheer, but it also made Isabella curious. "Are you all really that eager to see this movie? If I remember correctly, it was just released yesterday, wasn't it?"

“Yeah~~”

Bonnie nodded and said, "I've been watching this movie for ages! I heard it's the hottest movie this summer!"

On July 9, 2003, Pirates of the Caribbean was officially released in North America.

Isabella couldn't remember how well this movie did at the box office in her previous life; she only knew it was fantastic.

In this iteration, the box office curve for "Pirates of the Caribbean" looks like this:

On its opening day, "Pirates of the Caribbean" raked in $1550 million at the box office in 3023 theaters across North America.

The following day, because it was a Thursday, the box office dropped slightly, but it still grossed $1248 million.
On Friday of the third day, the box office rebounded, reaching $1684 million.
On Saturday, the fourth day, "Pirates of the Caribbean" benefited from the weekend and grossed $1941 million at the box office.

On the fifth day, a weekend, the box office dropped slightly to 1637 million because many people had to go to work the next day.
On Monday, the box office officially halved, but still retained a figure of 950 million.

On Tuesday, the seventh day, 935 million was recorded. This number means that "Pirates of the Caribbean" is only $550,000 away from breaking the $100 million mark...

To be honest, this result is quite regrettable.

Breaking 100 million yuan in seven days is indeed an achievement in the current film industry.

However, for a new IP, especially one without big-name box office stars, this result is already incredibly good.

As the wait came to July 28th, the 20th day of the film's release, and with the continued positive word-of-mouth, "Pirates of the Caribbean" broke 2 billion in North American box office, and Johnny Depp became the brightest star of the summer!

Because "Pirates of the Caribbean" is the fourth film to gross over 200 million yuan this summer!
It's also the second fastest movie to break 200 million yuan!

Keira Knightley has become the second most popular female celebrity this summer!
Because the fastest one is called "Finding Nemo"!
They're making an animated film, but we're champions in two different tracks!

what?
Some people say that since "Pirates of the Caribbean" was such a huge hit, why are Depp and Keira only considered "second highest" in terms of fame and popularity?
Speaking of this little beaver, you should hold your head high and puff out your chest!

Because the Anti-Good Alliance launched its attack on Isabella this summer!
Because Isabella released "Party in the USA" in the summer!

Because The Voice of America is holding auditions there!
Before the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean," Disney introduced Keira Knightley as Lily's older sister!

hum~
"Wow—this movie is surprisingly good!"

"Johnny's performance was hilarious!"

"Those skeletons are so realistic! They can even dodge attacks because they don't have flesh and blood? That's so much fun!"

"Kayla and Orlando are a perfect match—"

Is that Orlando the Elf Prince?

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! It's him! It's him!"

The group entered the theater at 5:30 and didn't leave until almost 8:00. The nearly 150-minute movie brought everyone endless joy. On the way back, discussions arose one after another, including expressions of gratitude towards Columbus.

Because it was the movie he invited everyone to see.

The children's joy pleased Columbus, and like Isabella, he also enjoyed this simpler life.

While welcoming the compliments with a smile, he also noticed that Isabella, who was sitting next to him, seemed to be silent.
So, after letting the excited children make their own noise, he switched places with Bonnie, who was sitting next to Isabella.

"What, you don't like this movie?"

"No? Why do you say that?"

"Because I noticed you didn't discuss it at all."

"Oh—that's because—everything was exactly as I expected—"

"Wow~ Really? You mean you guessed the ending after only watching the beginning?"

"Of course~ I'm a genius~"

Isabella has no problem with the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean"; in her previous life, she also quite liked the "Pirates" series.

At the moment, she didn't seem to be in a good mood; it was just that she suddenly remembered something.

In her past life, Disney had a project called "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," and Bruce Henri wanted Margot Robbie to play the lead role. However, for various reasons, the project was never completed, which left Isabella with some regret...

hold head high!
Isabella is thinking about "Pirates of the Caribbean"!

Because the title of this movie is already very exciting!
But unfortunately...

Disney didn't make a movie about it.

"Chris, are you here because you're concerned about me?"

Isabella smiled at Columbus. "You really embarrassed me today, so are you feeling guilty?"

“…” Columbus pursed his lips and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, then I'll take that as an apology. Thank you, but I also have a question."

"What?"

Why did you take us to the movies today? Didn't you say you wanted to keep a low profile?

"Oh? You mean this? Would you believe me if I said it was mainly because I wanted to watch it myself?"

Columbus winked at Isabella.

Isabella didn't quite believe this.

"If you really want to see this movie, you can go see it by yourself."

The little girl's raised eyebrows made Columbus smile as he looked ahead at the road; it was only just getting dark in London.

“I’m not lying to you, Isa. I watched it because I really wanted to, and it just so happened that it coincided with everyone’s demand.”

"The reason I wanted to see it was simple: I had a project that someone wanted to develop, and because that project involved some superpowers, I wanted to see how other projects with superpowers were filmed."

"Is this considered... research?"

Columbus's words piqued Isabella's curiosity.

"Oh, director, you have a new project?"

In an instant, Isabella's eyes lit up.

The obvious desire made Columbus both amused and exasperated. He shook his head and said, "You can't act in this project."

"Why? Is it because of superpowers? Did it conflict with Hermione's?"

"No."

"Huh? What is that?"

"Is it because the project is called 'Fantastic Four'? That's a fairy tale for adults. You're not even an adult yet, how can you act in it?"

"What?"

Isabella doubted that she had heard correctly.

Isn't the Fantastic Four a Marvel IP?
And now Columbus is saying... that the project is in his hands?
Oh—this isn't right—

Isabella quickly cleared her memory.

Then, she determined that in her past life, Columbus did not seem to own Marvel's intellectual property.

and so……

"Director, do you own the Fantastic Four IP?"

Isabella looked at Columbus with a puzzled expression. "Where did you come from?"

"Oh—that was ten years ago—"

As mentioned earlier, the huge success of Spider-Man brought superhero movies into Hollywood's development field, and everyone wanted to get a piece of the pie in this promising genre. Naturally, Chris Columbus was then targeted.

Because he owns part of the copyright to "Fantastic Four".

The origin of 'possession' can be traced back to Columbus's teacher, Spielberg.

Spielberg is also a comic book fan, a fan of DC and Marvel, which led him to almost direct Superman back then, the 1970s version starring Marlon Brando and Christopher Reeve.

Furthermore, Spielberg didn't make the film, not because he suddenly disliked Superman, but because the success of Jaws had skyrocketed his value, Warner Bros. couldn't afford him anymore, and Lucas showed him Star Wars.

Lucas told him that making a Superman out of his own hands would be more fun than making the movie "Superman".

Then Spielberg went to help.

Once you miss out, it's gone forever.

The success of Star Wars made it impossible for Spielberg to ever make superhero films again, because he was too proud. However, he did not give up on comic book adaptations. He would buy some IPs from time to time and have his people make them, so he wanted to have both face and passion.

Like the "Men in Black" series in Marvel, that's what he did.

Then, the story unfolded...

Back when Marvel was buying Men in Black, Avi Arad also pitched Fantastic Four to Spielberg, but Spielberg rejected it because he felt the IP had been ruined by others.

Here's what happened: The Fantastic Four IP was sold back in 1986. Because no films were ever made, when the copyright holder realized that Marvel would reclaim the IP if it wasn't filmed soon, the IP owner spent $100 million to hire Roger Corman, the king of B-movies, to make a hasty movie and get rid of the contract. The movie was never released; it was pure fraud.

This action made Marvel feel insulted, so in 1994 they bought back the film's negatives, which was a disguised way of reclaiming the IP. But what's done is done, and the traces can't be erased. Spielberg was unwilling to personally direct comic book adaptations because of his pride, so how could he possibly touch the ruined Fantastic Four?

Can……

Chris Columbus was interested in it...

"I wrote a script for Fantastic Four in 1995, but it didn't work out in the end."

"Because Constantine, who asked me to write the screenplay, didn't like my story."

"But as I became more and more successful, Constantine felt that their judgment back then might have been wrong, so he wanted to ask me to continue the project. Since I had accepted a collaboration offer eight years ago, so..."

Columbus turned his head and looked at Isabella beside him.

"Oh—I think I understand—"

"Script copyright, you know."

Isabella smiled and nodded.

(End of this chapter)