The Best Director

Chapter 286: Chapter 286: Success or Martyrdom

“Sweetheart Angel Jessica Alba joins ‘Firefly’ as the mysterious girl River.”

With the announcement, the official website of ‘Firefly’ also unveiled the concept art for River’s character. Major movie and entertainment websites quickly reposted the news. The art depicted a brunette girl in a white dress standing in front of a spaceship. With her long hair over her shoulders and an expressionless face, her right hand held a long revolver, while her left hand seemed to be in a defensive gesture, palm facing outward. Behind her, the spaceship bore the mark “Serenity.”

“YES, YES! YEAH!! That’s fantastic!” The happiest about this news weren’t Jessica’s fans, nor ‘Firefly’ fans, but Jeffrey Westhoff and the Hei Yang faction’s critics. They all breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, there was something to look forward to.

Jessica Alba, the nemesis of Wang Yang’s style, joins! The seriousness of ‘Firefly’ instantly dropped several notches. At 18, she was his angel, now at 22, she had become his nemesis. Reviewing Wang Yang’s filmography, what happens when his movies have an “Angel”? He would coddle Jessica, afraid she’d get even slightly “injured.” The movie’s theme would become childishly simplistic, and he’d turn into a lovable puppy.

At 19, she was still magical, but now at 23, she faces harsh criticism from film reviewers, labelled as superficial.

‘Firefly’ might just turn into a star travel log, admiring the scenery, cracking jokes, dancing around the campfire. A truly delightful day! The Blue Glove villain? With Jessica around, will there even be a villain? Meryl Streep’s Miranda is so adorable.

This is how a director’s specific affection for and creative inclination towards an actor manifests, like Quentin Tarantino’s Uma Thurman, resulting in ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Kill Bill’; or Wang Yang’s own Natalie Portman, giving us ‘Juno’ and ‘Winning 21.’ Everyone sees Natalie as elegant, intellectual, and tranquil, but not him. He turns Natalie into someone rebellious, intelligent, and mischievously cutting-edge.

In Wang Yang’s eyes, Jessica is a sweetheart, an angel, a bundle of joy… That’s why for a film as dark as ‘Sin City,’ even if the schedule allowed, fans doubted that Wang Yang would be willing to have Jessica participate. Now, the answer surfaces. He continues to keep the “Angel” within his own film set, but ‘Firefly,’ a sci-fi light comedy, is now at risk. Why would River be holding a revolver?

“River is a mysterious girl with powerful combat abilities. She’s beautiful, enchanting, and carries a strong sense of danger. I believe Jessica will bring a big surprise to the silver screen,” Wang Yang confidently stated on the official website, explaining the concept art. He said it was an on-screen transformation for Jessica, who would have a lot of action and fighting scenes in ‘Firefly.’

Fighting? Just some superficial flowery moves, that’s all. Action scenes are tough and could even lead to injury- would he really let Jessica suffer? The skeptical masses preferred to believe it was more of a “dance-fight.”

In the news, Jessica excitedly commented, “River is a brand-new challenge! I’ve always hoped I could play a martial arts master, and this wish has finally come true!” She added with a laugh, “It’s great to work with Yang for the sixth time. I can’t wait for ‘Firefly’ to start shooting.”

“Jessica’s words seem to be for Wang Yang’s satisfaction, indicating that Yang is very likely a male chauvinist with a strong desire for control. He dictates Jessica Alba’s every word and action, keeping her tied to his side, encroaching on her personal space, preventing her from taking other roles like ‘Fantastic Four.’ Maybe Jessica isn’t as happy as she appears,” Greg D commented wistfully on Yahoo.

Levens said, “Without a doubt, Wang Yang holds many of Asia’s traditional, cliched views. They treat women as personal belongings, with no respect, only restraint. Jessica won’t be happy if she marries him.” Princeton angrily said, “What right does he have to stop Jessica from doing other movies? Too selfish!” Turner said, “I’ve disliked him for a long time. I believe Jessica will soon reach her limit, and I look forward to seeing their wedding canceled!”…

A substantial portion of male movie fans were quite upset that Jessica had turned down “Sin City” and “Fantastic Four.” After all, in Wang Yang’s “Firefly,” she certainly wouldn’t have anything.

“Dammit!” Heath Ledger’s agent, Steve, also let out a wail of despair. He didn’t care about the gossip or what was happening with Jessica. Heath wasn’t going to be sent to street dance, was he? It might be an exaggeration, but the fact that Jessica’s involvement spelled trouble was indeed true. An overjoyed Jeffrey Westhoff couldn’t wait to be sarcastic on his blog, “Will this be a cosmic version of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’? Do I honestly think Jessica is better off staying on Earth, doesn’t Wang Yang know? The Serenity is a spaceship that’s ready to explode at any moment.”

In fact, Jessica’s role in “Firefly” was something the media and public expected. With so many characters in a spaceship-type sci-fi blockbuster, there had to be a part for her, whether it was another commercial film Wang Yang tailored for his woman, or she was cast regardless of her suitability.

Years ago, Jessica made the wise and correct decision to go with the doubtful “High School Musical” over the better-offered “Idle Hands.” Today, she chose the highly anticipated yet controversial “Firefly,” forsaking “Sin City.” No surprise there, perhaps 99% of actresses would make the same choice. But why give up “Fantastic Four” during a different schedule?

Could Wang Yang really be a male chauvinist, controlling even what Jessica wears? Or does she truly prefer acting only for her fiancé?

The tabloid media focused on these issues. According to a friend close to Jessica who confided in “US-Weekly”, “Wang Yang indeed keeps a tight rein on Jessica. He checks her phone call logs and her emails every day. He’s really clingy and hopes she appears in every movie he makes. Jessica always complains to me that it’s driving her crazy, she’s increasingly annoyed with Yang and feels suffocated.”

Yet, film media noticed something unusual: Why would there be Chinese characters printed on the hull of the Serenity spaceship? Maybe it was just trying to be cool like a Chinese tattoo, and “Firefly’s” official website seemed to have no intention of unraveling the mystery. Thus, those in anticipation became even more eager, many forgetting one point: Wang Yang would not allow a film starring ‘Angel’ to fail. The naysayers became more skeptical, with the presence of Wang Yang’s nemesis, it’s hard for “Firefly” to achieve greatness.

“Look at this, I can’t hold back anymore! What nonsense are these gossip magazines spouting? What friend? It’s infuriating!” At nightfall, with a smack, Jessica angrily tossed a copy of “US-Weekly” to the floor, and Danny cautiously approached to sniff. With the wedding approaching at the end of the month, and “TDWP” bringing a new surge of popularity, this couple, who had been peaceful for years, saw a huge spike in public interest, regularly attracting such purely fabricated gossip.

Almost all of it was “the wedding is off,” with reasons ranging from prenuptial agreement disputes to pre-wedding jitters and sudden flare-ups of conflict, and this time, it was Wang Yang who was portrayed as the neurotically controlling big man.

“Oh my God!” No one knew better than Jessica that it was she who was clingy, dependent on him, hoping to act in every one of his movies, unable to sleep without hearing his voice for a day, and now the gossip had twisted the story… She clenched her teeth and threw a punch in the air, “I really want to beat them up!” Wang Yang, who was sitting on the bed with the thick “Firefly” script, shook his head and laughed, “Aren’t I? But that’s how gossip magazines are, don’t be angry, it’s all right as long as we know it isn’t true.”

Jessica was still quite annoyed, “People will believe them! I don’t want you to be misunderstood by others, branded as a chauvinist, as someone depriving me of my freedom…”

“Forget about those, do you know the best way to hit back at this news?” Wang Yang smiled, feeling a twinge of discomfort at the baseless gossip, but he cared more about the film than the rumors, looking into her eyes, he earnestly said, “Let’s have a wonderful wedding and make ‘Firefly’ a success.”

Jessica calmed down and nodded, a charming smile emerging on her face, “Okay!”

No matter whether there were doubts about “office building regulations” or “Wang Yang’s kryptonite,” Wang Yang would put his all into making “Firefly.” He wasn’t 100% certain he could crush all those doubts into dust because the “Firefly” he was preparing to shoot didn’t have the successful past of “TDWP,” nor did it have the failure lessons of future “Winning 21” or “Lucky Card Player” like “MIT-21-TEAM.”

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“Firefly” is set to tell a story through a script, with a unique visual style, level of scenes… all different X factors, all a test. The original TV series “Firefly” by Joss Whedon offers little help, as the design of Serenity has changed, as well as the world setting of the script, the story, the battle scenes—everything has changed significantly, with an increase in the scale of battles and special effects. Not to mention the storyboards; this is a brand-new movie from the ground up.

The biggest challenge and risk lie in the blending of Western cowboys with Eastern aesthetics, “Serenity” is an unprecedented attempt, or rather, attempts at similar fusions have failed before. They mixed in some ill-fitting Eastern elements, characters wearing the wrong clothes, appearing in the wrong scenes, creating an odd feeling along with poor scripts; so failure is not surprising.

This colossal challenge could be summarized as “do or die”; if it fails, it definitely won’t look good. Wang Yang knows this, but isn’t that what makes it interesting? After making three stereotypical commercial films, it’s time to go big, to either shock the world or be besieged by it. He’s confident that “Firefly” will achieve the former, and he’s not fighting alone, he has a strong team both in front and behind the camera.

As excellent talent keeps joining the team, the first phase of Firefly’s shooting schedule focuses on indoor studio shots, especially the interior of the Serenity spaceship. But before shooting starts, the main cast still needs a few members of the Serenity crew—Hogan Wash the pilot, Zoe the female African American first mate, Jayne the muscle mercenary, Simon the doctor brother of River.

In Wang Yang’s finalized movie script, Priest Book and the companion Inara from Joss Whedon’s television script are not on board the Serenity for this episode’s story because they don’t play a part in it. Even though he plans the film to be about 150 minutes.

With some characters being cut and others added, this stems from the changes in the story setting. The mysterious girl River isn’t just the target of the Alliance’s blue gloves, a third-party force known as the “Reavers” are also competing for her.

The Reavers are a product of a failed Alliance ‘New World’ purification project, which in fact included many experimental planets that conducted purification using different methods. Some failed and ended when all the humans died, but a planet with seemingly successful Reavers suddenly erupted into uncontrollable chaos, becoming a rogue third-party force.

The Reavers operate like a society of shrimp people, with the lower levels lacking intelligence, driven solely by a brutal, bloodthirsty instinct; each ship has a common leader, with different fleets all having a major leader responsible for commanding, deciding attack targets, fleet movements, and communication with other Reaver fleets.

They not only massacre, cannibalize, and wreak havoc, but they also capture normal humans to “purify” them into becoming one of the Reavers. Because the Reavers believe they are the beautiful New World! They are the successfully purged new humans, they are the “Over-Man,” which Nietzsche spoke of—not Superman.

God is dead, and the Over-Man is the new God! The Over-Man represents the pinnacle of human biological evolution, the best part of the human species. They rule over everything and transcend notions of good and evil, totally unburdened by conscience. Therefore, Reavers can wantonly kill and pillage, the tears of the mediocre need no sympathy, for the Over-Man is a supreme moral ideal.

Their will and their words are the law. In the three spiritual realms of the Over-Man philosophy, no Reavers exist in the camel realm of “thou shalt”, the common Reavers exist in the lion realm of “I will”, and the fleet leaders exist in the child realm of “I am”. The Over-Man is not “what”, the Over-Man “is”.

Over-Men love adventure and take pleasure in it; they seek out strong opponents to fight and are very independent, completely free, with no friends. Hence, the Reavers drift through space with a high-intelligence “Over-Man” leading a fleet, doing whatever they want wherever they go, purifying humans. They disdain bases and rallying into groups, so although they have the potential to conquer a big planet together, they only wander and attack at the fringes of space, as well as develop their fleets.

Over-Men are the best at enduring torture and can rise from pain. They can tolerate the most intense suffering and thus possess the strongest willpower; the most tortured geniuses have the most hope of becoming “Over-Men”. Therefore, apart from the fleet leaders who already deem themselves Over-Men, every Reaver delights in self-mutilation, slashing and mutilating their faces as a badge of honor.

“`

This was the Nazis, this was a perversion of Nietzsche’s superhuman philosophy, and in any case, it was the social structure and behavioral mode of the insanely mad plunderers with abnormal neuro-IQ levels.

The newly added character was precisely the leader of a fleet of superhuman plunderers, a madman through and through, who, like the man with the blue gloves, was passionately pursuing the “Beautiful New World” – a belief that had led him to participate in this experiment in the first place. The difference lay in their understanding of the ideal world: while the man with blue gloves believed in a world devoid of evil, where everyone was equal and loved one another, the post-experiment plunderers believed in neither good nor evil, with the superhuman reigning supreme.

The role of the “Plunderer” didn’t have much screen time, but it was of critical importance; and to make brief appearances impactful, naturally required even more of the actor’s skill. Who should be invited to play this crucial supporting character?

There was no rush to find this person, as the crew of the Serenity needed to get to grips with the concept art as soon as possible. The preparation for “Firefly” wasn’t just about casting actors; another primary focus was building the set scenarios, which were already underway in Vancouver’s Flame Studios, including spaceship interiors and various built structures from the script. All these were being ordered and constructed according to the design blueprints provided by the art team, under the leadership of Joss Whedon, set designer Gordon Chin, and prop master Drew Petrota.

Of course, besides the indoor and outdoor scenes, a significant number of shots would utilize green screen technology, with possibly as many as 1500-2000 special effects shots – more than double that of “District 9.” Additionally, the molds that needed to be created and the detail in the visuals to be drawn were also more extensive. The manpower for “District 9” would be insufficient to complete the task within the deadline; however, “Firefly” was a “money burning party” with a budget soaring to 200 million.

And with “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” at 115 million, “Fantastic Four” at 100 million, and “Batman” at 135 million, they were uneasy, and the media was astonished to dub Wang Yang’s production of “Firefly” as: “The ambitious Wang Yang building a skyscraper.”

Especially since out of the 200 million budget, no real A-list stars were invited, and nearly all the money was spent on the production itself. Money meant more exquisite quality and quicker progress; the visual engine was already globally recruiting talented animators to form a new visual effects team for “Firefly.” Nevertheless, the manpower and technology of one company were not enough to handle this project alone, and like “District 9,” the visual engine needed to collaborate with other special effects companies.

Now, their job was to create clay models and 3D models of the spaceships based on the design blueprints, followed by texturing, mapping, and so on. Later, they would draw the interstellar scenes according to the storyboard script.

Actor casting, hardware preparation, special effects… Wang Yang needed to follow up on all these tasks, and on the personal front, he also had to prepare for the wedding at the end of the month. Amidst his busy life schedule, the footsteps of the 61st Golden Globe Awards were gradually approaching.

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