Chapter 256: Chapter 192: The Meaning of Competition !
Translator: 549690339
Director James Diaz was on a much higher level than Neil Blomkamp, with whom Chen Feng had dealt before.
Although District 9, Elysium, and Chaos Space had somewhat established Neil’s stature in the industry, they paled in comparison to James Diaz; the two weren’t even on the same level.
Starting from three to four decades ago, ever since his debut film swept the Hollywood weekend box office, James hadn’t made a B-Class film; he only dealt with top productions.
Even if he just came up with an idea for a movie, countless investors would break down his door, waving checks worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Ordinary-level directors had to actively visit investors and repeatedly sell themselves by explaining their filmmaking ideas.
Better ones had established long-term relationships with investors.
In James’ case, he could choose his investors. He would not only consider their financial worth but also whether their ideas matched his and whether their money was clean. He also made sure the investors did not interfere inappropriately.
When a director is powerful enough to choose his investors, his influence in other areas of the film industry is even more evident.
To the likes of Maxwell Campbell, a domestic capital representative, James Diaz was a celestial figure they could only look up to.
But now, this man was very intimately trying to pull Chen Feng into his new movie!
Maxwell was confused, not knowing what was wrong with his worldview.
Wasn’t Chen Feng a music producer? At most, he was a boss with some influence in the Chinese-language music scene, not a Hollywood movie star. What was James up to?
What infuriated him even more was that when the group behind him talked about official business, they unconsciously lowered their voices, making it difficult for him to hear clearly.
“Mr. Clark, I hope you will seriously consider my invitation,” James said sincerely after introducing the movie.
Chen Feng fell into contemplation.
In fact, when he ran into this group of people while going upstairs and was suddenly stopped, Chen Feng was also a bit confused.
While he was in the United States, he knew hardly anyone except for the music bigwigs he had met at the Grammy Awards. Who were these international friends who suddenly wanted to join forces with him?
If it wasn’t for the vague familiarity he felt with Peter, Chen Feng would have left.
After the other party introduced themselves, Chen Feng very approachably stayed and exchanged business cards with them, all while engaging in friendly conversation.
It’s a joke!
James Diaz!
A divine director who holds three spots in the top ten historical box office rankings!
A true bigwig who almost made it into the thousand-year history of art!
If it weren’t for the fact that Chen Feng had become a Galactic Human and his subconscious mind had changed slightly, viewing things more transcendently and having more experiences in the 31st century, he would have immediately grabbed James’ thigh and shouted, “Don’t leave.”
When Chen heard the invitation to participate in his movie, he was slightly surprised and a little caught off guard.
He was already planning to expand into the movie industry.
Although he had great confidence in his script, Chen Feng carefully pondered the complete creative process of making a film and knew that it was not as simple as it seemed.
Moreover, moving from the Chinese film market to the global stage required a long and potentially insurmountable breakthrough.
Having the opportunity to connect with James Diaz could be considered a shortcut.
By first trying it on his own and opening up opportunities for his company, everything would become much smoother in the future. He might even have the chance to skip working with those subpar domestic directors and catch a Hollywood director straight away.
Also, James’ new film was a science fiction piece, a genre that Chen Feng liked very much.
James approached him for a peculiar reason: he had seen online the video of Chen Feng using a hang glider to break into a helicopter to save people.
After watching it, James was amazed by Chen Feng, and all he wanted to do was pull him into his new movie to play a significant role with plenty of action scenes.
James knew that Chen Feng was not a professionally trained actor and had never even studied acting, but that didn’t matter; he could coach him.
It would be a waste not to showcase such skills in a compelling and electrifying movie.
Today’s “chance encounter” was not a real coincidence. When James made arrangements to meet Peter and others to discuss business, he purposely chose this hotel in order to corner Chen Feng and have a face-to-face conversation.
His invitation was sincere.
Everything seemed perfect, but Chen Feng felt very troubled by the offer because the character James planned for him to play was Japanese.
That was awkward.
“I apologize, Mr. Diaz, but I’m usually very busy, and I’m not a professional actor, so I’m not competent for the role. I’m sorry. I also have an appointment today. How about we talk another time?” Chen Feng said as he tried to leave.
Unexpectedly, James seemed to see through his concerns; he grabbed Chen Feng’s hand. “Mr. Clark, I know what you’re thinking, but I hope you can try to broaden your horizons. If necessary, I can make minor script changes for a role. However, the nationality of this particular character cannot be changed due to pre-production plans and agreements with other actors. That’s not important. The focus of a science fiction film is on the stars, not on nationalities.”
Chen Feng sat back down. “Yes, so in my perspective, more distant science fiction films do not distinguish between Americans, Japanese or Chinese. We are all human, and that’s enough.”
Peter beside them interjected: “Mr. Clark, do you think the world will unify in the future?”
Chen Feng thought for a moment. “Perhaps.”
James shook his head. “Not likely. Competition is human nature and instinct. Now, humans are the strongest life forms on Earth, and we only have each other to compete with. So, competition runs throughout our entire history; individual competition, group competition, racial competition, and now national competition.”
Chen Feng narrowed his eyes. “So, Mr. Diaz, are you a supporter of militarism?”
James shook his head. “No, competition doesn’t just involve warfare. Nowadays, large-scale wars between major powers are almost impossible to happen as they would lead to an unbearable tragic cost for humanity, far greater than World War I or World War II. This does not align with our biological instincts.”
“So, what do you mean by competition?”
James organized his thoughts. “Nations compete fiercely on an eternal scale across technology, economics, education, and many other fields. For example, the technological race between your country and mine. Although it seems that the losers waste resources, defeating many losers is the way to make the winners run even faster. In the past, there was a saying that people being chased by a tiger could run at their fastest speed. Some major scientific breakthroughs that occur a year earlier can create potentially far greater value for humanity than the resources wasted by losers. I don’t advocate war, but I do advocate competition.”
At first, Chen Feng was taken aback. Later, however, his eyes gradually brightened.
No wonder James Diaz was a deep-thinking science fiction master. He touched on the relatively narrow frustrations that Chen Feng had been struggling with for so long.Competition is valuable.
Competitors are both enemies and comrades on some level.
In the several timelines he had experienced before, humanity had been disrupted too much.
Either it was underhanded mental infiltration or the extermination of humanity by the S Bacteria; after the S Bacteria was finished, Morning Wind had never stopped broadcasting.
The final World Government formed was either wrong at one extreme or “right” at the other extreme.
Humanity had never followed its own racial characteristics along a completely natural path.
This path should be diverse, filled with complexity and randomness.
Perhaps, after eradicating the S Bacteria, they should have changed strategies immediately, not broadcasting indiscriminately to the entire population, but adopting Rainer’s strategy of using Morning Wind exclusively for top-level scientists?
Harrison Clark laughed.
“Thank you, Mr. Diaz, for clearing up my confusion. However, my vision does not need to open any further; I am not narrow-minded at all. But I admit that the reason I refuse the role is that I don’t want to play a Japanese person. I only want to play a person with Asian skin, purely an earthling, regardless of nationality or race.”
Seeing his determination, James Diaz was greatly disappointed, “Alright, what a pity.”
Harrison thought for a moment and decided to leave a good karma.
“We’ll have a chance to work together in the future, Director Diaz. Everyone thinks I can only write songs, and maybe in your country, I’m barely considered a so-called superhero. But actually, writing songs is just my hobby, my real talent lies far beyond.”
Everyone at the table was puzzled, not knowing what trick he was trying to sell.
James: “Please be direct.”
Harrison: “My attainments in movie scripts, especially science fiction movie scripts, will not disappoint you. If you’re interested, we can talk about my script in the future when there’s a chance.”
James’ expression was a bit strange.
The others weren’t much better.
After a while, James said, “Actually, I usually only shoot scripts I’ve personally created.”
Harrison was not offended, “I know, so if you’re not satisfied later, you can not only ask me to play a Japanese person, but even a Korean. How about it?” James: “Great! I hope we can cooperate soon!”
After finishing the conversation, Harrison turned and went upstairs, with a brisk pace and a joyful mood.
This time he had found Summit Ventures’ future science fiction movie an even greater starting director.
With James’s golden brand, Summit Ventures would undoubtedly thrive in the movie industry, directly skipping the Chinese movie market phase and entering the global market.
Such a valuable connection, given freely, was a godsend.
As Harrison became relieved on his end, Maxwell Campbell’s heart felt cold on the other side.
He wasn’t sure how Harrison’s conversation with these people went, but James’s final loud and enthusiastic “I hope we can cooperate soon” pierced his eardrums.
What is this world coming to?
Isn’t James supposed to be a filmmaker?
If he wanted to invite Harrison for a theme song, Maxwell could understand.
But with James eagerly seeking Harrison to star in his movie and so enthusiastic about collaborating, what is his intention?
Maxwell and the surrounding young actors could only sigh at the injustice of the world.
Despair and tragedy.
Maxwell hurried after them with his group, intent on catching up.
He couldn’t let Harrison leave just like this; he had to get him back!
The harsh words Maxwell had just let go were now forgotten.
But Harrison simply had the hotel security block this group of people.
Unwelcome flatterers, their tongues were despised as dirty.
He returned to his room, where Carrie Thomas was sitting on his bed, holding a guitar and playing it listlessly.
“Why did you take so long? What did they want from you?”
Harrison sat down irritably, “Don’t mention it, it almost made me sick.”
He told Carrie about how Maxwell thought he was interested in both men and women and wanted to send all the men and women he brought to his bed.
Carrie laughed heartily, finding it both funny and disgusting.
“These people are really weird.”
Harrison agreed, “Yes, they’ve completely ruined the beauty of art.”
“No, I’ve known about these lousy things for a long time. I was laughing because they mistakenly thought you were interested in both men and women.”
“Shut up!”
Carrie suddenly said, “Guess who might have started this rumor in the first place?”
Harrison thought about it, “I think I know.”
“Don’t blame her. Who told you to write songs from a woman’s perspective early on?”
Harrison squinted his eyes.
He really wanted to admit something.
It’s not all a female perspective, but entirely your perspective.
“Of course I don’t blame Avril Green.”
“That’s good..”