Throughout September, Lin Qi spent almost all of his time in a hotel suite in Los Angeles, working behind closed doors with Aaron Sorkin to polish the script.
During this process, Sorkin's opinion of the young Boston Celtics owner changed dramatically; he was even amazed by him.
During breaks in discussing the script, Lin Qi would occasionally casually throw out a few story ideas, all of which were masterpieces he remembered. These forward-thinking concepts, full of dramatic conflict, struck a chord with Sorkin, making him want to immediately jot them down in his notebook.
"My God, are you really not considering quitting your job with the basketball team and becoming a full-time producer or story development director in Hollywood?" Sorkin exclaimed more than once.
With this mutual intellectual recognition, the script progressed at an astonishing speed.
Sorkin's writing experience primarily stemmed from the high-intensity world of television networks. During his time working on phenomenal shows like " The West Wing " and " Sports Night," he became accustomed to writing under extreme pressure. He could deliver a 42-minute episode script in just eight days, and directors typically didn't even need to make revisions, simply taking the first draft and starting filming. This high-pressure television production line fostered his signature "walk-and-talk" style and rapid-fire dialogue, delivered with the intensity of a machine gun.
In less than a month, by the end of September, the 120-page first draft of the film had been completed.
The script was extremely sharp, but before the final draft was completed, Lin Qi made a key suggestion for revision that Sorkin found brilliant.
" Aaron, if for two whole hours the audience only sees a cold-blooded, machine-like general manager who only knows how to calculate and pursue profit, this movie will be too dry." Lin Qi drew a line on the whiteboard with Mark. "We need conflict, we need the arc of humanity."
"How do I fix it?" Sorkin, biting the pen cap and frowning.
"I separate the cold-bloodedness and humanity within 'me' into two distinct characters."
Lin Qi wrote two words on the whiteboard, "Data" and "intuition".
"The protagonist is me, a ruthless dictator who only believes in numbers and is willing to trade away veterans at any time to win. Then, we create a fictional second male lead, who is the team's chief scout or former general manager. This person embodies all the romance of old-school basketball: he understands human relationships, he is deeply loved by the players, he trusts his own eyes rather than cold, hard data, and he will offer cigars to the players in the locker room and listen to them confide in him about their family difficulties."
Lin Qi, watching Sorkin's eyes gradually brighten, continued, "These two disliked each other from the very beginning. The protagonist saw the second male lead as a stagnant, outdated force, while the second male lead saw the protagonist as a devil who didn't understand basketball and had destroyed the sport's human touch. They argued fiercely in the meeting room, but as the plot progressed, they gradually came to understand each other through their confrontations and eventually cooperated. The protagonist's cold-bloodedness began to soften, and the second male lead also accepted the changing times."
"Perfect!" Sorkin slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "That's it! That's the core tension of the play! The compromise and growth that arises from the clash between two completely opposing values. I'll rewrite that part of the play right away!"
After the script was finalized, producers and major Hollywood studios reviewed it and gave it extremely high praise. They all suggested that Lin Qi find several directors who had made traditional inspirational sports films to direct it.
"None of them will do." Lin Qi flipped through the list of director candidates, crossing out those names without hesitation.
As he looked at the gloomy, paranoid protagonist in the script, staring at the walls covered in data tables in the basement, a name popped into his mind.
David Fincher.
At this time, Fincher had just become famous for " Seven " and " Fight Club " and was preparing for a new film. In Hollywood, he was a well-known "tyrant on set" and "detail-obsessed maniac," known for his extremely dark visual style, strong desire for control, and driving actors to the brink of collapse.
A few days later, at a minimalist upscale private restaurant in Los Angeles.
Lin Qi sat opposite the famous director, who had a stubble and sharp eyes.
"Mr. Lin Qi, I've glanced at Sorkin's script." Fincher cut his steak without even looking up. "The lines are well-written, but I must tell you beforehand that I have absolutely no interest in basketball or sports inspirational stories. I hate those clichéd endings where the game-winning shot is hit in the last few seconds, followed by cheers and sunshine from the crowd."
Lin Qi picked up his wine glass, took a sip of red wine, and answered coldly.
"Very good, Director Fincher. I'm not making some kind of sports inspirational film. This is about how an extremely obsessive control freak uses the most ruthless methods to establish his own order within a massive, hostile, and corrupt system."
Two extremely obsessive, perfectionist "control freaks" experienced an indescribable resonance of souls in this quiet restaurant.
David Fincher put down his knife and fork, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly upwards.
"I like this tone; I can consider directing." Fincher leaned back in his chair, taking on the role of director. "However, I need to push the fictional second male lead in the script a bit further."
Tell me about it.
" Lin Qi, your character is too calculating. When the audience watches him, they will be afraid of him, but it is difficult for them to like him." As a director, Fincher is very clear about what kind of emotional anchors are needed on the big screen.
"Therefore, we need to mold that fictional old-school scout into a 'tragic hero.' He is not only charismatic but also brimming with an incurable romanticism of the old era. The more he insists on being human, the stronger the audience's resonance and sympathy for him will be."
Fincher tapped the table, a glint of excitement in his eyes. "This role can't be played by an ordinary character actor; it has to be someone with an incredibly strong screen presence, someone whose smile can break your heart. I know who's perfect for this kind of 'charming tragic bastard.'"
Without wasting any words, Fincher took out his phone and dialed the number of his go-to leading man in Fight Club.
Two days later.
Hollywood A-list star Brad Pete sat in David Fincher's office and read through the entire script about the "old-school scout" in one go.
Pete absolutely loved Sorkin's rapid-fire dialogue, and he loved even more the character's "old-fashioned, stubborn, bourbon-drinking, blindly trusting-his-eyes-but-destined-to-be-left-by-the-times" bastardly charm.
"Count me in, David. This role is just too cool." Pete closed the script and decided to join without hesitation.
With a script by Sorkin, a directing role by David Fincher, and the heavyweight addition of Brad Pete, this film was destined to be excellent.
Now, only the last, and most crucial, issue remains.
Who will play the lead role in the movie?
Who will play " Lin Qi "?