The Best Director

Hahaha…” Wang Yang sat cross-legged on the adjacent sofa, continuously letting out low chuckles. Looking at Jessica, who was coming over with ice packs, he laughed, “Scarlett Jackson!” Jessica smiled a wry smile and handed them each an ice pack. While applying an ice pack to his forehead, Wang Yang laughed, “Joshua, actually Scarlett is pretty hot, maybe you guys should just stay together? Forget the divorce.”

Joshua gnashed his teeth and said, “Only if it were Johnson!” He covered his eyes with the ice pack and said mournfully, “I don’t want to live anymore, I really don’t.”

I don’t even know what to say about you two guys!” Jessica laughed and slapped Wang Yang’s arm before sitting down beside him, “Thank goodness nobody got hurt.” She looked at the tattoo on Joshua’s arm and couldn’t help but laugh, showing her teeth as she said, “Why am I not a boy? Then I could do all these crazy things too.”

Joshua finally had a chance to laugh at someone else, “If you were a boy, Yang would have to be gay!” Wang Yang smiled and remained silent; Jessica proudly smiled with arched brows, “So I might as well stay a girl, and do the crazy things girls do.” She chuckled, then asked with great curiosity, “What exactly did you guys do last night to end up like this?”

After a crazy night, the four sobered up and paid for the damages at Caesar’s Palace. Joshua used his cellphone to contact his new wife, admitted his mistake, and agreed to divorce a few days later before they returned to Los Angeles. All of them were feeling dizzy, weak, and certainly not fit to drive, so they hazily took an hour’s flight back home. Wang Yang and Joshua were then woozily driven back to Beverly Hills. Now, at just past four in the afternoon, their heads still ached.

Though his head ached, Wang Yang’s mind was completely clear, but many of the previous night’s memories had fragmented, buried in the river of memory, waiting to be excavated or forever forgotten. Frowning in thought he said, “Hmm, I can only remember parts… Normally we’re not supposed to tell girls about bachelor party stuff, but Jessica, you’re one of the brothers now.”

Thanks!” Jessica cheerfully hugged her fists and kissed his cheek, smiling sweetly, “Brother!” Joshua immediately cried out, “Don’t provoke me, I can’t see anything about love right now! Otherwise, I’ll go crazy.” Jessica spread her right hand and said with a smile, “Please.”

Wang Yang smiled, rolling his eyes and touching the cool ice pack on his forehead, began recalling with a smile, “You still want to hear it? When we got to Las Vegas, we started drinking in the hotel room, I don’t know how many bottles… I think by the time we left the room, all four of us were already drunk, right Joshua?”

I don’t know, we must have been drunk…” Joshua too was recalling, his blurry memories coming in like the tide, “Then we went to the casino, they got ten thousand dollars in chips, I remember that number because I only got five hundred, damn…” Wang Yang nodded, “You even said, ‘I’m going to win back a sports car!”‘

Jessica laughed out loud, and Joshua sighed without retorting, “Yang said slot machines are a scam, don’t play; roulette is a scam, don’t play… In the end, we all went to play Blackjack, and the result was that Tom, Zachary, and I all had lousy luck and quickly lost all our money. But Yang, I have to admit!” He raised a thumbs up and laughed, “He’s really good at gambling, has great luck, and won a lot of money, even hit a Blackjack once! Yang said he was like that… who?”

Who?” After thinking for a bit, Wang Yang’s mind suddenly flashed with a memory, and he laughed, “Jeff Ma!” Joshua nodded repeatedly and laughed, “Yes, yes, Jeff Ma! Then we left the hotel, ready to go have fun elsewhere, but somehow ended up in a tattoo parlor, and inside the tattoo parlor…”

He suddenly stopped there, as if he had remembered something, and Wang Yang also widened his eyes. The two exchanged glances, unable to continue in front of their brother. Wang Yang picked up the conversation, “Joshua got that portrait of Jesus tattooed, and then, I can’t remember clearly… My head hurts.” He closed his eyes in discomfort, and Joshua also said in pain, “Me too! But my heart hurts even more, I don’t want to live!”

Jessica nodded indifferently, thinking about what they had just said, and suddenly asked, “Who is Jeff Ma?” Joshua hesitantly said, “A novelist? Wrote a book about how to gamble?” Wang Yang couldn’t help but laugh and said, “No, it was his true story that Ben Mezrich adapted into a novel. Back then, Jeff Ma was a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was preparing to go to Harvard Medical School. But one day, he was pulled into a secret organization by two classmates, the MIT Blackjack Team.”

The members of this team (MIT-Blackjack-Team) were all geniuses with a knack for numbers. They studied the card counting techniques of Blackjack, learned from each other, and manipulated the casino tables with their cool, high IQapproach to numbers. They raked in huge sums every weekend in the gambling city, sometimes winning over 900 thousand dollars in a single night, becoming the nightmare of all the casinos in Las Vegas.

Of course, the casinos wouldn’t stand idly by, but the technology of the mid- 90s wasn’t so advanced; they only had ordinary surveillance cameras. However, these geniuses were no ordinary gamblers; they always disguised themselves as various characters, athletes, businessmen, foreigners… making circles around the casinos and their hired private investigators. After a long game of cat and mouse, Jeff Ma and the others won nearly ten million dollars before the detectives gradually pieced together the clues and identified them with the help of surveillance cameras.

Once their identities were exposed, Jeff Ma and his associates were blacklisted by nearly a hundred casinos in Las Vegas and across America, who refused to let them enter the premises. Although card counting wasn’t illegal, the courts supported this verdict. Jeff Ma and his friends may have conquered Las Vegas, but they were also expelled by the city. However, they are all doing well now, continuing to be elites in other industries, and their legendary stories have been published in books.

That’s how it is, all the casinos were afraid of them, and no one dares to let them in to gamble anymore.” Wang Yang exclaimed in admiration, laughing, “So impressive!”

Joshua, feeling his blood boil with excitement, said eagerly, “So that’s how it was, unbelievable! It’s a true story? Cool! I really want to see the faces of those casino owners at the time; it must have been spectacular!” Meanwhile, Jessica frowned in confusion and asked with a laugh, “Uh, that is cool! But didn’t those casinos have anyone beat them up? I don’t know about that, but in movies, there always are.”

Yes, in the book as well,” Wang Yang shrugged, obviously for the sake of dramatization he remarked, “But not in reality. Jeff Ma said they were never treated violently, just chased out by the casino staff.” He chuckled and then added, “Think about it, that group was made of MIT geniuses, and card counting isn’t illegal. They wouldn’t let themselves suffer that kind of loss. In fact, a lot of the content in that book is different from reality. In the book, there’s this professor…”

In the book “Winning 21,” the main character Kevin Lewis (Jeff Ma) couldn’t afford the 300 thousand dollars for Harvard Medical School, fiction; then he was lured by an MIT professor into the team, fiction; they were beaten up, fiction…

Hmm,” Jessica nodded as she listened, and suddenly, Joshua remembered something, leaped to his feet excitedly and said, “Dude, didn’t you say you wanted to make a movie out of it? This is definitely a good story!” Jessica was taken aback and said, “Wang Yang, really? But you’ve just finished ‘District 9’.”

I have a lot of time, don’t I? It’s a great story! I’ll make it, not necessarily now, but I will.” Wang Yang said with a smile, feeling excited. The idea had somehow surfaced yesterday and now it was firmly implanted in his mind, very strongly! He turned to Jessica and smilingly said, “Sweetheart, could you go to the study and get me that book? ‘Las Vegas,’ it’s on the desk, thanks!”

Jessica said OK, then got up and left. Wang Yang thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Joshua, hearing about Jeff Ma and their stories, how do you feel?”

Is that even a question?” Joshua spread his hands in surprise and let out a loud whoop, saying, “It’s incredible! Cool! Now that I know they weren’t beaten up, and they’re doing well, it’s even cooler! You know it’s hard to believe, but it’s a true story, a few guys messed up all the casinos in Las Vegas, but no one could do anything about it, and they got to enjoy themselves…” He said with a face full of emotion, “What kind of people are they?”

Well said, very well!” Wang Yang said with a smile, clenching his fist, but still with a sense of powerlessness as he said, “I think that’s the first impression it gives to the audience, the expectation it gives to the audience! This is the core.

At that moment, Jessica came back with a book and handed it to him. As Wang Yang flipped through the book, he asked, “Hey, if you guys were to shoot this story, how would you do it? What would you shoot?” He casually flipped through a page and said, “There’s a lot of room for imagination with this story. You could make it a biopic about Jeff Ma; a drama about several people, whether it’s serious, formal, funny; even make it a campus film…”

Joshua removed the ice pack and frowned in thought, saying, “I don’t know, maybe make it a comedy? No no! That doesn’t feel right, I’d make a really cool, exciting movie about how Jeff Ma and the others swept through the casinos, and those furious looks on the bosses’ faces!”

Me?” Jessica tilted her head to think, then said, “If it were up to me, I’d probably win the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture. But I would make a drama that isn’t serious, nor is it just for laughs.” She smiled and said, “What interests me is how they did it. Those card counting techniques, and the makeup and secret signals you talked about, I think they’re very interesting.

I got it, as you wish!” Wang Yang nodded seriously, then turned his attention back to the book and said with a smile, “I want to think it over for a while.” Hearing this, Joshua lay down on the couch and said, “Then I’m going to sleep.” Jessica hummed a response, stood up, and said, “Then I’ll go to the supermarket to buy some stuff, there’s no food in the fridge, take care of yourselves.” After saying this, she picked up her handbag from the coffee table and headed out.

Holding the book in his hands and thinking about Jeff Ma’s real story, Wang Yang slowly slipped into deep reflection.

This legendary story could be adapted into many genres, and on his return journey today, he watched a future movie called “Winning 21″ in his mind, which is based on this book and story. That movie was made into a drama but was completely botched, he had to say it was a mediocre, boring, patience-testing, and downright bad film, and it was a total waste of the material. (Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 35% approval rating, Metacritic scored it 48 out of too).

Winning 21” failed to capture the essence and core of the story, losing the unique traits that come to mind when one first hears this tale.

First off were the “high-IQdetails,” including how the entire team operated, card counting skills, code words, gestures, and how they fooled the casinos and played cat-and-mouse games with private detectives… “How did they do it?” Yet the movie glossed over these aspects, sweeping through the casino scenes with quick cuts, lacking professionalism and that high-IQ feel, and the genius team did not shine… The unique features that belonged to this story became stale gimmicks.

It also got the villains’ positioning all wrong; the team’s sole adversary should have been the casino and the private detective matching wits with them. Not some greedy professor or the boring and cliched internal conflicts.

The enemies’ positioning determines the focus and direction of the story, and what the story is ultimately trying to say. Perhaps in “Winning 21”, it tried to convey that easy money and overnight wealth aren’t right, because, in the end, such gains are fleeting. Thus, both the professor, the protagonist, and the team lost all their money, ending up “with nothing” and returning to their old lives.

This is the most unbearable part! The idea that gambling for easy gains is wrong doesn’t apply to this story; these people weren’t gambling or breaking the law, they were card counting, showcasing intelligence, not preaching. Actually, there was no need for complexity, no need to add heavy themes to the story; the more added, the more mediocre and untrue to its legendary reality it became.

The protagonists being toyed with by the professor, caught and beaten by the casino security boss, and later trying to conspire with the security boss to outsmart the professor, before being tricked by him and left with nothing… It’s not just an issue of being uncool or completely contrary to what audiences expected—it’s downright infuriating.

The real appeal of Jeff Ma and the MIT Blackjack Team, the reason this story is captivating, is that it’s a true legend. They tricked casinos, conquered Las Vegas, and swept away ten million dollars! The casinos could do nothing but begrudgingly blacklist them! From start to finish, the big winners were these MIT students.

The core of the story was “a group of high-IQgeniuses who conquered Las Vegas, laughing last.” That expertise, that high intellect, was inherently cool; sweeping through casinos and outwitting private detectives were inherently climactic moments. It should have been a movie that left the audience thrilled.

I can’t do it like that…” Wang Yang muttered to himself, flipping through a few more pages of the book. He already had some ideas in his mind; he wanted to properly write a cool, professional script that captured the essence of this story. Clearly, this was not a job to be done in a day or two. He thought he needed to contact Jeff Ma, Ben Mezrich, as well as some expert professors and private detectives who could offer professional assistance.

But who would play Jeff Ma? This question made Wang Yang frown immediately. In that future “Winning 21” movie, the protagonist turned into a white character named Ben Campbell, naturally portrayed by a white actor, which was another major flaw. In some related reports, this change caused significant discontent and protest among the Asian community.

Because in reality, Jeff Ma, nicknamed “Intel Chip,” was a vital member who brought the team to its zenith; yet the team consisted mostly of Asians. Surprisingly, in the film “Winning 21,” Jeff Ma was portrayed as white; of the five-member team, there were two Asians, one being a girl with no distinctive image, and the other a boy prone to pilfering and stealing, a typical Asian screen stereotype—the sleazy thief.

The fact that Jeff Ma had no objections to this change also led Asian netizens to denounce him as a “race traitor,” proclaiming they would not watch this trashy movie; while Jeff Ma said, “What I care about more is the acting talent. If the film company had just picked any Asian actor, like a Japanese or a Korean, to play me, it would have been an even greater insult.”

This situation would never happen in his own movie, Jeff Ma is Chinese, and the protagonist on the screen must also be Chinese. If using one’s wits to conquer Las Vegas is regarded as an honor, then this honor is also Chinese! Why are Chinese characters always the villain, the sleazy, the foul-mouthed? Even a true story has to be stolen by white actors? What if one day, someone, out of madness, decided to make a film about “Magical Yang,” they would also cast a white actor, wouldn’t they?

It’s absurd! Jeff Ma would represent a new screen image for Chinese- Americans, where the positive roles are not limited to Kung Fu. Chinese people are not just about Kung Fu; there’s also the handsome, intelligent, charming MIT genius. That’s also one of the strong reasons why he wanted to film this story.

In reality, Jeff Ma looks naive and can hardly be considered handsome; but in the movie, he must be handsome. So where to find such a “Jeff Ma”? A tall, handsome, intelligent genius with good acting skills who can play a 21-year- old, and moreover, must speak excellent English. Although Wang Yang could speak Chinese himself, the male lead definitely needed to interact with other actors and communicate with some members of the production crew, which required a sufficient level of English.

It would be ideal if he was also a Chinese-American who grew up in America. There are several reasons for this, the first being the accent – an actor with an American accent would be more like Jeff Ma and also more marketable. Similarly, his identity could to some extent lessen the market’s pride and prejudice; but more importantly, a Chinese-American familiar with American culture would undoubtedly have a deeper understanding of the script, be able to craft the character better, and add that certain flavor.

But where to find such a person? Wang Yang knew he would never find one in Hollywood; there were no Chinese child stars here, lacking opportunities and space for Chinese actors to grow and survive; so his eyes had to turn to the greater China region, a place with its own soil for Chinese people and that also attracted Chinese to return for development.

Although he was almost 22 and had never once been to the greater China region, Wang Yang was no stranger to Hong Kong, for he grew up watching both Hollywood and Hong Kong movies. Hong Kong movies had their unique characteristics and charm, and Quentin Tarantino was one of their die-hard fans, his film style deeply influenced by Hong Kong cinema.

Growing up, and during classes at the University of Southern California, many Hong Kong movies had greatly shocked him, the unique camera techniques, such as the many silent exchanges of eye contact and wordless confrontations, made him exclaim, “So, movies can be made like this!” And in terms of the gambling genre, Hong Kong cinema and Hollywood are completely different sorts. Hong Kong movies always managed to make a niche profession look cool and textured, emitting an “authentic” flavor, and that was worth learning from.

Of course, due to market factors, costs, and filming cycles, one characteristic of Hong Kong cinema was one good movie followed by a pile of bad ones, beating the genre to death. It had been a long time since Wang Yang had watched Hong Kong films, and he couldn’t immediately think of any actors there who would fit to play Jeff Ma. He shook his head, temporarily putting the problem aside, and said in a low voice, “OK, let’s think about the female lead first.”

In his preliminary concept, the movie was to be called “MIT-21-Team,” and there would be no professor character leading the group. This not only reflected reality but also seemed cooler, “We are geniuses, not a bunch of kids led by a teacher; this is our own idea, we don’t need any professor.”

The leader of this team, this leading figure, fell on the female protagonist, who was a very, very cool big sister type—extraordinarily intelligent, shrewd, calm, with exceptional leadership qualities… She was also the one who roped in the male protagonist.

Within the team, both she and the male protagonist were the big players, while the other three were card counters. The so-called “card counters” were responsible for sitting at a particular gaming table, participating in each hand with the lowest possible stakes, and calculating the deck, accurately judging when that particular deck would be disadvantageous to the house, and then signaling for the “big players” to join in the game. The big players, with superior card counting skills and maintaining composure unaffected by emotion, were especially lucky; their task was to win money, naturally, the more, the better.

The card counters and the big players were mobile; when the deck at their table “cooled off,” it was time for them to switch tables.

This female big player, both collected and wild, with cult-like charm… who was suitable? As this question arose in Wang Yang’s mind, the next instant he had his answer. Looking at the face that emerged before him, half-smiling, he murmured, “Natalie Portman… Natalie!?” He thought seriously for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing, “Oh heavens, who could be more perfect than her?”

In terms of the movie itself, Natalie’s acting was beyond doubt, and the role suited her perfectly, it was almost tailor-made; her Harvard University background and her status as Queen Amidala also lent a persuasive big sister persona with high intelligence on screen, along with her physical appearance and demeanor.

From a market consideration perspective, her “national idol” status with immense popularity, and her unique place in the hearts of movie fans, would be a great help to “MIT-21-Team.” After all, a Chinese male lead was a significant “box office poison” element—this wasn’t a Kung Fu movie, and expecting the market to completely accept it overnight was delusional; on the other hand, the more successful at the box office it became, the more confidence it could give to the market, at least proving that Chinese leads were not limited to Kung Fu films.

Therefore, the film needed a female lead with a strong market appeal to anchor it—who could be better suited than Natalie Portman?

Thinking this through, Wang Yang immediately closed the book, picked up the phone from the coffee table with enthusiasm, and didn’t care about the time, he dialed Natalie’s number directly; after a few rings, she answered, and he said with a laugh, “Hey, Natalie!”

Wow!” Natalie sounded quite surprised on the other end, then said, “Dude, you’re calling me? At this hour! What holiday is it today? Happy Natalie Day?

Wang Yang, leaning back on the sofa and pressing his aching forehead, said excitedly, “Forget that crap, buddy, you need to clear some schedule for me!” Thinking about the film project and the series of other things that needed to be done, he added, “I don’t know the exact time now, but it should be after October this year, I need you to join a movie I’m working on as the female lead.”

Mmm…” Natalie replied noncommittally, her lips curling up as she looked at her phone, drawing out her words, “So what kind of movie is it?”

Come on!” Wang Yang laughed a bit impatiently, took a sip of water, and decisively said, “You have to agree to it no matter what kind of movie it is!” Natalie couldn’t help but burst into laughter, making a ponderous “hmm, uh sound before saying, “Alright, I agree! It’s definitely not a porno anyway.” Wang Yang feigned relief, exhaled, and laughed, “You’re hooked! What are you so sure about? This time, that’s exactly what I’m planning to shoot.”

Natalie seemed genuinely surprised, “Really? Cool! Who’s my co-star?” Wang Yang simply smiled, ignoring her question, and seriously said, “Actually, it’s a movie about high-IQgambling, tentatively titled ‘MIT-21-Team’. Do you play Blackjack? Know about card counting? Jeff Ma?”

What do you think?” Natalie’s voice was full of annoyance, “Don’t you know a lot of people think of Natalie as an old fossil who only plays chess?” She scoffed and added, “I’ve played Blackjack, but I don’t know much about card counting or Jeff Ma.”

Wang Yang hummed in acknowledgment and then shared some preliminary ideas with her about her character, finally laughing, “Anyway, that’s all for now, when you have time, take a look at ‘Bringing Down the House’ and learn about card counting. You know you’re the team captain, so start cultivating that BOSS-like quality!” Natalie laughed from the other end, “Mmm, will do! Magic Yang, do I get that damned Oscar nomination this time?”

Oh, I don’t know!” Wang Yang laughed heartily, the Oscars? He shrugged and said, “Maybe. The role doesn’t have many award-winning elements, but you can do great, and maybe you’ll have a chance.” Natalie’s tone became indifferent again, “Whatever! But buddy, I know I’m going to have another bucket of popcorn awards in my bedroom.”

After babbling a bit more with her, he ended the call that confirmed the female lead for ‘MIT-21-Team,’ happily tossing his phone into the air and catching it with ease, laughing, “Done!”

Right then, there came a cough, and Joshua, who was lying on the main couch, sat up, staring unblinkingly at Wang Yang, and pointed to his eyes, then crossed them over, gruffly saying, “Yang, I’m watching you!” Wang Yang looked at him, smiling and said, “Scarlett Jackson.” Joshua instantly jerked back, took a deep breath; Wang Yang repeated “Scarlett Jackson,” and Joshua hissing through his teeth, “Scarlett Jackson,” he screamed, “Say it again, and I’ll kill myself right now!”

Hahaha— ” Wang Yang let out a burst of unscrupulous laughter, mouthing “Jackson” at him. Joshua quickly closed his eyes, changing the subject, “Are you really going to shoot that Jeff Ma movie?”

Wang Yang nodded with a smile, “Of course, give me one reason not to?” He picked up his water cup for another sip to moisten his dry throat and said, “But that movie needs to come together slowly; I need to carefully consider the script and storyboards; before that, I have to shoot another movie, ‘The Hangover’.”

Joshua’s eyes snapped open as he exclaimed in surprise, “Another one? Wow, just like the papers said, that magical Wang Yang speeding back?” He swung his fist excitedly and laughed, “MAN, you’re even cooler than Jeff Ma! So what’s this movie about? Getting drunk?”

Laughing, Wang Yang replied, “Our antics from yesterday.” Joshua paused, confused, “What do you mean?” Wang Yang spread his hands, a smile on his face, “Exactly that, yesterday’s antics. It’s about a guy getting married, then the bachelor party, four guys going to Las Vegas, getting wasted and going crazy. Imagine, we wake up this morning and Tom’s gone, but the wedding is in one day! What do we do? We have to find Tom!”

He grabbed an ice bag from beside him and tossed it at Joshua, continuing to laugh, “But as you’ve seen, the three of us are completely plastered and can’t remember anything specific about last night. So we piece it together bit by bit, following the clues to uncover the truth of that wild night, and crazy stuff keeps happening until we finally find Tom, and the wedding goes off without a hitch. That’s the gist of it.”

You mean to say…” Joshua frowned in confusion, “Are you saying that my wedding is going to be on the big screen?” Wang Yang laughed heartily before nodding, “Yes, of course! That’s part of the content, it’s too funny! Plus, there will be some card counting action, mentioning Jeff Ma and his crew in passing. I think this is a way to market ‘MIT-21-Team’ and later, we won’t have to work so hard to explain what card counting is during promotions.”

Joshua wasn’t interested in promoting card counting; he only knew that this would publicize his wedding! He breathed heavily with frustration, “No, Yang! You can’t do that, what movie does that?! Unbelievable!”

Buddy, comedy movies can,” Wang Yang said with a smile, lying back on the couch and staring at the pristine ceiling above, musing to himself, “Joshua, you know? I really want to have some fun this time!”

Most of last year, he was caught up in some depressing matters; he got a bit too into character while shooting ‘District 9’, with its loneliness, oppression, and desolation. He was always in a foul mood… But last night’s indulgence gave him a real chance to vent, remembering how he knocked over the couch, smashed the TV, and turned the presidential suite topsy-turvy… That was all his doing.

It also sparked a strong desire to keep playing like this, to make a funny movie! Forget all that bullshit, just for the fun and laughs!

Can you take out the part about my wedding?” Joshua still held out some hope as he asked, but when he saw Wang Yang shaking his head, he howled in dismay, clenching his teeth, “I’m going to kill myself, I’ll do it right now!” At that moment, Jessica walked in carrying bags, and hearing her brother’s declaration, she asked with a puzzled smile, “What’s wrong with you now?” Joshua wiped at his dry eyes, lamenting, “You should ask what’s wrong with your boyfriend! He’s making another comedy movie, why!”

Smiling, Wang Yang simply shrugged and said earnestly, “Why? I think ‘District 9’ will scare a lot of people, and they’ll curse, ‘Damn that Wang Yang, got fooled, the film was so distressing!’ OK, so let’s make a comedy to cheer them up! Well, I’m just kidding.” He chuckled and added, “Actually, I’ve found myself falling a bit in love with Las Vegas.”