The Best Director

After hanging up the phone, the study grew quiet for a while. Wang Yang then let out a silly chuckle and John Woo responded with a classic line from ‘A Better Tomorrow’: “I took the wrong path before, but now returning to the right path, it’s not too late, right?” From his voice and tone, Wang Yang could feel the old guy’s passion and determination, and no matter what, he believed in John Woo for once. He believed that the king of gunfight movies could regain his lost glory.

Although Mark Miller was a famous comic book artist, there were too many similar short comics. The setting and story of ‘Assassin’s Creed’ were not startling, and apart from Marvel and DC superhero themes, there were few examples of great success in comic book adaptations. So whether ‘Firefly’ was willing or not, no company would probably be interested in investing in ‘Assassin’s Creed’ with John Woo listed on the sheet under the director category.

Wang Yang and ‘Firefly’ believed in John Woo, but that didn’t mean they blindly trusted him. If the old guy performed poorly during the preparation of ‘Assassin’s Creed’, showing no passion or spiritual energy, or being unsuitable for the film, ‘Firefly’ would also reconsider the choice of director.

In fact, ‘Assassin’s Creed’ was just a very simple and ordinary story, full of shadows of Chinese martial arts films: a loser, adventures, gangs, origins, chivalry, revenge for a murdered father, parricide, truth, vengeance … this was almost ‘The Romance of Book and Sword.’ The original’s biggest promotional point, “curving bullets”, treated the bullets like the flying darts and knives in martial arts films, but in reality, if you fired a gun with a flick of the wrist, the bullets would still fly straight.

But movies have their own artistic merit. The 2008 version of ‘Assassin’s Creed’ played with concepts like bullet-time slow motion, curving bullets, and bullet collisions, as well as race car driving, violence, dark humor, and Wesley’s final “dual-wielding” technique, making them all look very cool.

Seeing dual-wielding wasn’t surprising because, whether it was the director of the 08 version of ‘Assassin’s Creed’, Timur Bekmambetov, the director of ‘The Bourne Identity’ (which Universal originally invited John Woo to direct, but John Woo chose ‘Windtalkers’) Doug Liman, the director of ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’, or Quentin Tarantino with ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Kill Bill’, Robert Rodriguez with his Mexico Trilogy, Michael Davis with ‘Shoot ‘Em Up’ … they had their ups and downs, but all these directors were influenced by John Woo.

Wang Yang was no different. He liked using slow motion shots and some cool, bloody, violent techniques, which also got him commentary from the film media describing him as having a style inherited from Chang Cheh and John Woo.

But if John Woo could not make a comeback and prove himself once more, maybe in a few years this action movie director with countless fans would have to sigh and say, “I haven’t been the boss for many years.” However, Wang Yang didn’t think that when John Woo had the creative passion, he would be unable to make a good ‘Assassin’s Creed’; Timur Bekmambetov had his own cool style, and so did John Woo.

Handling shots, handling stories … Each director has their own style. For example, if Wang Yang were to direct, with this script and story, he thought his martial arts film would still carry “sentimentality.” When Wesley first joined the brotherhood for training, characters like Fox and Professor Sloan were indeed strict and brutal towards him. On the other hand, there was also a kind of warm-heartedness of the dying sun. The previously bullied and humiliated Wesley found a sense of home in the brotherhood, as well as friendship, kinship, and love.

These were moments of shoulder patting, high-fiving, and bright smiles. He saw Professor Sloan as a father figure, along with other brothers and lovers; and yet it was all a lie, he was used by the brotherhood to kill his own father. Then during the revenge stage, he stormed into the brotherhood alone, killing every brother and friend he once drank with, turning them into minced meat, and eventually killing off Fox and Sloan.

Such a tone and atmosphere were more reflective of martial arts stories, but he thought it was fun, shocking.

This was just one of the details, which might only have been the addition or deletion of a few shots, yet it resulted in a significant difference in the film. Under Wang Yang’s direction, there might not be as much dark humor, but there would be more exploration of human conflict, showcasing the director’s personal style.

However, the production of “Assassin’s Creed” had nothing to do with him; he wasn’t directing, producing, screenwriting, and certainly wasn’t acting, because “Firefly” absolutely, absolutely could not be messed up, and he didn’t want to be distracted on this side of the screen. Still, he wanted to offer some suggestions for John Woo to consider, so he might take on the title of “Planning Producer,” which wouldn’t stop him from casually thinking about casting possibilities during the leisurely evenings of his vacation.

“To be brothers…” After pondering for a while, Wang Yang stood up and imitated the scene from “A Better Tomorrow” where Mark was shot to death, his eyes bulging and head trembling, pushing at Song Zijie beside him as he muttered to himself, “Now, the blood should burst out!” He chuckled a few times and walked out of the study. If possible, he would love to have Daniel Wu play Wesley; the 08 version of James McAvoy and Daniel Wu really did look quite similar.

However, let alone the fact that this was a matter of life and death for John Woo, without the realistic persuasiveness of a Jeff Ma, a Chinese male lead was momentarily unsuitable for “Assassin’s Creed” and the market.

The original comic character for the female lead Fox was actually based on Halle Berry, and naturally, Mark Miller’s greatest hope was to invite Halle Berry to join the project. In the end, the 08 version featured Angelina Jolie. Not to mention that she was now to join “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” under John Woo’s dire direction? Wang Yang also hoped for other choices, who could be invited for an audition? Eliza Dushku? He was quite fond of “Furious Cars,” confident in a sequel even if it did poorly; Michelle Rodriguez? Wild and fierce enough, but not stunningly beautiful…

“Hey, Jessica.” Upon reaching the living room, Wang Yang greeted Jessica, who was sitting on the sofa smiling while looking at a magazine. She would be quite a fitting candidate for Fox, sexy and explosive, with the downside being too sweet and not fierce enough. “Firefly” was set to shoot in the first half of the next year, and “Assassin’s Creed” would likely start filming after the summer vacation, so their schedules could be accommodated. The question was whether her audition would be suitable, and the larger premise was whether she was interested at all.

“Yang.” Jessica’s face was brimming with a sweet, dreamy smile as Wang Yang noticed images of infants and babies in the pages of “Parents” magazine. He sat down next to her, glanced at the magazine for a few moments, and couldn’t help but smile at the adorable babies: “They really are cute.” Jessica looked from him back to the magazine, then suddenly gave his thigh a few pats, her eyes full of excited anticipation as she said, “Dear, after we get married, shall we have a baby?”

Wang Yang, with a raised eyebrow and a smile, stared at the chubby babies on the magazine and, embracing her, asked, “Do you want to be a mother?” Jessica leaned against his shoulder, her black eyes filled with tenderness as she softly said, “You know me.” Wang Yang also felt a surge of excitement, but was also a bit concerned for her: “But you’re only 22, turning 23 next year, becoming a mother at 24? I mean, these are the golden years of a young actor’s prime, the time when you most need to solidify your position, your career…”

“You know me!” Jessica interrupted him urgently, gazing into his eyes. Marriage and having babies, a sweet home, that was the most wonderful thing! Plus, both their careers were already doing quite well.

“Alright, you know me too…” Knowing her desires, Wang Yang gently kissed her on the cheek, and Jessica smiled happily, showing her teeth. “So that’s it!” And he laughed and said, “Jessica, actually, ever since ‘Juno,’ I’ve really wanted to have a baby. We were just too young and too busy, not really suitable; but now we’re about to get married, 25 and 24 years old as parents is also fitting, and we’re both prepared, right?”

Jessica laughed and nodded continuously, biting her lip to contain her excitement and joy. Hearing his words, she said eagerly, “Of course! I’ve been ready since I was 8!” Wang Yang paused, suppressing a laugh as he feigned shock, “Oh, is that so? But back then you had nothing here, so how would you solve the baby’s feeding problem?” Jessica pressed down on his hand on her chest, her breath held in anticipation as she asked, “The answer?” Wang Yang smiled and said, “The answer is, after ‘Firefly’ wraps up, we’ll make a baby!”

“Oh…” Jessica sighed softly, as if in a daze, taking a deep breath. Baby, baby! Her voice gradually grew louder, “Oh, oh my, oh my God! Wow—Jesus, oh my…” Wang Yang hugged her tightly, looking into her shimmering eyes, and chuckled, “Yes, OMG.” Jessica grabbed his hand, blinking her eyes, becoming more and more excitedly expectant, “How can this be, HOW? I’m going to be a mom! God! Oh, heaven!”

She stood up excitedly, breaking free to dance around, then ran back and forth with arms outstretched as if flying, her bright laughter ringing out, “Oh wow—I’m going to be a wife, I’m going to be a mom! It’s amazing!”

Seeing her go crazy like that, Wang Yang knew he didn’t need to ask about the audition for the lead actress in “Assassin’s Creed” anymore. The film starts shooting in the second half of next year, would this mom be interested? By then, she’d be fondling her belly every day. He laughed and said, “Hey! Be careful, don’t hurt the kid! No lying in the streets while pregnant.”

“I know!” Jessica continued to jump and bounce around, releasing her excitement, then circled behind the sofa and leaped onto it, landing heavily on Wang Yang’s thighs. She wrapped her arms around his neck, turning her head this way and that, eagerly asking, “Where are we going to settle down after we have the baby? Continue living here?”

“Hmm!” Wang Yang naturally would have liked to move back to San Francisco to settle down, but his job meant he couldn’t leave Los Angeles for the time being. Living in a Beverly Hills residency, Santa Monica, or Malibu villa seemed too cliché. Glancing at the sweetheart in his arms, he frowned and asked, “How about the Arctic? You can see the aurora there.” Jessica retorted, “DUDE, I’m serious!” Wang Yang replied gravely, “So am I. If we lived there, we could run around naked every day and still not make the gossip papers.” Jessica rolled her eyes, “Just to become ice sculptures.”

“The wonders of the world, aren’t they…” Wang Yang joked, then paused, looking at her sweet smiling face, fiddling with something in his hand. A chord in his heart kept being struck, and suddenly he said, “Hey! You just asked HOW, right? I’ll tell you HOW, the method to make a baby!” Jessica’s beautiful eyes widened, “Here?”

“Here! Now! Us! It’s not our first time!”

Soon, December 29, 30, and 31 had all become the past, and 2003 had come to an end. That year saw many significant events worldwide. In March, the war in Iraq broke out; in April, the SARS virus began its global outbreak; in October, Shenzhou 5, carrying Yang Liwei, successfully launched into space, making China the third country after Russia and America capable of sending humans to space on its own… This year the film industry also saw many novelties, the 75th Academy Awards gave birth to the youngest Best Actor and Best Director, “The Lord of the Rings” series came to an end, and the miraculous Yang continued to create box office miracles…

For Wang Yang, age 23 was bound to be one of the most unforgettable years of his life. He successfully proposed to his girlfriend of 5 years, secured an Academy Award, and produced two movies, “MIT-21-TEAM” and “The Devil Wears Prada.” He felt a greater ease in showing off, telling stories, and more relaxed control over these aspects. His capabilities in all areas were skyrocketing. He made it onto the small screen, and Flame Group had sufficient development, with yet another battle with film critics looming at the end of the year…

“Happy New Year!” As the New Year’s bells rang out, 2004 arrived amidst the joyous laughter and well-wishes of countless people across the globe! This New Year, Wang Yang and Jessica celebrated in Los Angeles with family and friends, bringing in what would undoubtedly be an even more memorable year for both of them.

After the Christmas and New Year holidays ended, all sorts of work and wedding preparations came rushing forward, along with invitations to various award ceremonies and events. Wang Yang and Jessica both returned to their busy lives. It was possible to miss the award ceremonies, but the wedding at the end of the month was not to be neglected. Besides preparing the guest list, Jessica immersed herself blissfully in the pre-wedding activities like bridal showers and gift parties; Wang Yang accompanied her to select wedding rings, tailor wedding dresses, and advanced preparations for “Firefly.”

There was still some time before the 61st Golden Globe Awards on January 25, but the North American box office rankings from December 26 to January 1 had already been tallied. “The Lord of the Rings 3” took the lead with $90.55 million. In the post-holiday period of January 2-8, it continued to top the charts with $35.88 million. After another two weeks of battle netting a second and third place, “The Devil Wears Prada” took in an additional $49.47 million and $22.26 million US Dollars, reaching a total North American box office of $204 million in four weeks.

The miraculous Yang’s sixth film proudly surpassed $200 million in North American box office revenues. What was more daunting, more irritable for Yang’s critics, and left the anti-Yang film critics regretting why they hadn’t shut up sooner, was that after adding $68.53 million and $55.34 million overseas, the foreign box office for “TDWP” surged to $251.8 million US Dollars, with a global box office of $455.8 million!

“Do you think ‘TDWP’ can reach $400 million globally? I think it can.”

The public seemed to hear a crisp ringing sound, those haughty footsteps of high heels and the crazy laughter of Wang Yang that has become the nightmare of many critics—some even waking up from it in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. However, they couldn’t avoid the covering and joking from fellow media outlets, which led to the first outcome of this highly publicized spat: “The Devil Wears Prada” easily crossed the 400 million mark, with 500 million now well within sight.

“Everything is under Wang Yang’s control,” wrote Yahoo Entertainment in their “TDWP” spat special, updating with a headline featuring these words accompanied by a photo from last year’s Christmas battle at the Staples Center, with Wang Yang smiling and resting his chin on his hand. The designed speech bubble next to it read, “Look at you fools!”

The article compared the spat to a basketball game, with the detractors and supporters chasing after “TDWP” like a basketball. The detractors kept calling Wang Yang stupid, pathetic, pitiable, arrogantly moronic, idiotic… “Now we know who’s won and who’s lost. The opposition is way behind in the score and can’t prevent the proponents from winning the match. Throughout the game, Coach Wang Yang was exceptionally calm and composed, he had everything under his fingers, and his boastful claims all came true.”

“Perhaps he’s LOLing right now, seeing who’s the fool? This is a quite astonishing development; he was completely aware of the box office potential of ‘TDWP,’ he knew the audience would love it, he knew the consequences of turning such an office story into the current light comedy. He knew it from the start, he was more sober and understanding of the market than anyone. Perhaps we could criticize him on this account, for choosing the shallowness of high box office over serious topics. That’s another critic’s tone.”

BOX, Rotten Tomatoes, The Hollywood Reporter, … various internet media were all reporting “Wang Yang Wins.” Wang Yang’s prestige was fully established, and though he lacked Roger Ebert’s thumbs up, he gained tens of millions of movie fans giving him two thumbs up. However, he also made enemies with some critics, which meant he’d face stricter scrutiny. Could “Firefly” possibly turn these critics into fence-sitters? No one knows yet.

But this spat had little to do with the actors; the three leading ladies, widely praised for their performances, all moved up significantly in popularity status due to this global fashion storm.

At 20, Emily Blunt became a hot, promising new star. Meryl Streep routinely reaped award nominations, making this the highest-grossing film in her acting career, shattering box office records in North America and globally. Previously, her North American box office record was held by “Kramer vs. Kramer” at 106 million, while her global record was “The Bridges of Madison County” in 1995 at 182 million. “TDWP” propelled her for the first time into the 200, 300, 400 million clubs, and the forthcoming 500 million.

In terms of business and box office, with the backing of Wang Yang, 54-year-old Meryl Streep burst forth with unprecedented power, reaching a personal zenith in her later years. Regardless of “TDWP”‘s critical reception, many media outlets lavished praise on Streep’s choice for this performance as “one of the most perceptive decisions,” “one of the brightest,” “a major turning point in her career.”

1999’s “High School Musical” 201/411 million, 2000’s “High School Musical 2” 101/221 million, 2001’s “High School Musical 3” 125/257 million, 2002’s “Sweetheart” 83.4/170 million, 2003’s “The Devil Wears Prada” currently 204/455.8 million.

An average global box office of 302 million for each lead role, one of the most popular female stars among the millennial generation—if Natalie Portman was out of the picture, one could remove “one of.” But there’s no dispute over her winning various magazine polls like ‘the sexiest,’ ‘the most charismatic,’ ‘the woman most people would like to date,’ etc. Despite knowing her glamorous success relied on Wang Yang’s “protective growth,” and often being teased by the media that she “only acts for her boyfriend,” Angel Jessica Alba still did things her own way.

In the newly begun year of 2004, it seemed Jessica, who apparently had no film commitments, naturally received a flood of movie auditions for leading lady roles, the heaviest of which would have to be “Sin City,” scheduled to start shooting this April, and “Fantastic Four,” which starts in August.

“Not interested at all.” (