Hollywood Director 1992

“Link, congratulations! *Paranormal Activity*'s global box office has reached 400 million US dollars, even higher than the blockbuster *Batman Returns*. Truly amazing!”

Jennifer Connelly said excitedly on the phone.

“Is there anything else? Could you praise me a bit more?”

Link leaned back in his office chair, talking on the phone while sketching the director's script for *The Blair Witch Project*.

“You like me praising you?”

Jennifer Connelly laughed.

“Yes, today there are thousands of articles in the newspapers praising me, calling me a genius director, miracle director, a self-made billionaire, etc. But for me, all those praises combined are not as good as your simple 'truly amazing'. ”

“Haha, you really are a conceited guy. Okay, then how about I praise you for being very smart and talented? You can write scripts, direct, act, and do cinematography. You're a very versatile guy. You became a director through self-study and made a wonderful film like *Buried*. It's incredible.”

“Anything else? Like appearance or personality, are there any praiseworthy aspects? Of course, if you can't appreciate the looks of Asian men, I won't force you.”

“So, you're not just conceited, but also very narcissistic and vain.”

Jennifer kept laughing on the phone.

“This isn't narcissism. I just want to know what kind of image I have in your impression—beautiful or ugly, elegant or rude, indifferent or approachable. I really want to know your opinion of me.”

Link continued to scribble on the script.

“I've only met you twice, what kind of impression could I have? How to say it about you...you're not particularly handsome, but you look very comfortable. You're not that tall, but you're very upright and slender, which is quite in line with my aesthetics.”

“If I were standing in front of you right now, ready to kiss you, would you dodge?”

“Ha, very likely. We just have a good chat on the phone. It might not be the same face to face.”

“That's right. Do you have time this weekend? Let's go to the amusement park together.”

“Amusement park? We're already adults, is it appropriate to go to an amusement park?”

“Why not? When I was a kid, I wanted to go to an amusement park, but I didn't have the money or the time. Now that I have the money and the time, why not take the opportunity to make up for the regrets of my childhood? You grew up in New York, you must have often gone to children's parks. I want to find an acquaintance like you to take me around.”

“No, how could I often go play. My dad runs a clothing store, and my mom is an antique dealer. They are very busy with work and don't have time to take me to amusement parks. When I was ten years old, I started filming *GG* and had to go to school, so I was very busy. I haven't been to an amusement park a few times since I was a kid. I haven't even ridden a roller coaster.”

“Then it's settled. We'll go to the amusement park this weekend to make up for our regrets.”

“Okay.”

After hanging up the phone, Link called Liu Xiaoli and asked her to order two full-package tickets for Magic Mountain amusement park.

Magic Mountain is in Valencia, north of Los Angeles, and is famous for its thrilling roller coasters. There are also many projects suitable for children to play.

Link had taken Liu Xiaoli and Liu Qianqian there a few times and was quite familiar with it.

Knock knock knock!

Daniel DeVito pushed open the office door, holding a stack of documents in his hand.

“Boss, after two rounds of screening, we have selected six suitable actors from more than two hundred people. Do you want to take a look?”

“Okay!”

Link originally didn't plan to look, but suddenly thought that selecting actors would also increase participation, so it wouldn't hurt to take a look.

In the information that Daniel DeVito handed over, there were also photos of more than a dozen missing persons, compared with the photos of the selected actors.

The top two were actually acquaintances.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

“I know these two people. Why did they come to audition? I remember there was a requirement in the audition requirements that those without acting experience would be given priority. They both acted in movies before.”

“Boss, do you have any conflicts with them?”

“No, we're friends.”

“Okay, we chose them because they performed better during the audition and cooperated well. Matt Damon acted in a play five or six years ago, but not in the past two years. They are unfamiliar faces on the screen. Ben Affleck has not been on the big screen yet. Secondly, they look more like Mike and Anthony among the missing persons. They look even more alike after makeup.”

Link took the newspaper and looked at the photos on it. They were indeed three or four points similar. In fact, in his eyes, except for those familiar male stars, the appearance of other people was not much different.

“Okay, then call them and let them try.”

Link handed the information to Daniel.

Considering that *Paranormal Activity* had only been released for a short time, it would be difficult to lure ordinary audiences into the cinema using the promotional methods of a documentary-style film.

This also made *The Blair Witch Project* have some difficulties in promotion.

He was also unsure how much subsidy would be available at the box office.

Now he can only use this movie as an experiment. If the box office subsidy is too small, he can shoot it a few more times, or not release it and only release videotapes.

Even if there is a loss with a production cost of tens of thousands of dollars, it won't be much.

“Boss, something happened.”

Before Daniel could leave, Michael Risner and Liu Xiaoli rushed in.

“What's wrong?”

Link sat up.

“The day before yesterday, at a midnight showing, a dentist in Fowler County, New York, had a heart attack and died while watching *Paranormal Activity*. Yesterday, *The New York Daily News* reported the news, and this morning CNN TV broadcast the news on the morning news. *USA Today* and other newspapers also reprinted it. Now many people know about this.”

Mike Risner said.

Link took out *USA Today*. On the society page, there was a news report about this incident.

In Fowler County, northern New York, a 53-year-old dentist had a heart attack while watching *Paranormal Activity* in a movie theater and died after ineffective rescue treatment.

According to the newspaper, there were only twenty people in the movie theater at the time. The dentist was sitting alone in the back row, and no one noticed him when he had a heart attack.

After the movie ended and the theater replayed other movies, an audience member found him lying motionless under the seat.

The audience called the police.

After a doctor's examination, the deceased died of sudden cardiac death.

But the dentist's family claimed that the dentist did not have heart disease and insisted that he was frightened to death by watching the movie. They demanded compensation from the theater and even demanded 100 million US dollars in compensation from Link.

*USA Today* and other media called on the theater chains to remove *Paranormal Activity* in advance.

The reason is that this movie is very scary. When it was a hit in the first few weeks, there were many audiences in each show, and the atmosphere on the scene was relatively lively, so watching the movie would not be too scary. Now that the movie is in its later stages, there are too few audiences in each show, and the movie becomes scary, which can easily cause accidents while watching the movie.

In addition to this time, two people have died unexpectedly after watching *Paranormal Activity* in the past three weeks.

The first person was on the way home from watching a movie. For some reason, the car overturned on a flat road, and the driver died.

After being reported by the media, many people claimed that the person was frightened by the ghosts in the movie and suffered a psychological shadow, which led to the car accident.

The cause of the second case was a prank. After watching *Paranormal Activity*, several black people dressed up as ghosts to scare their timid companions, because black people are relatively dark and look like ghosts at night.

The prank target was frightened, rolled down the steps, and died.

Although these two accidents are related to the movie, the connection is weak.

The media and the deceased's family have no reason to blame the movie.

But this time is different. The dentist died while watching *Paranormal Activity*.

The causal relationship between the two parties is strengthened.

Colleagues will not give up this good opportunity to pull down *Paranormal Activity*, and the media will also rush to join in the fun and make things bigger.

This incident is a small crisis for *Paranormal Activity*. If handled properly, it will be an opportunity. If handled improperly, it will be very troublesome.

“It's unfortunate that a viewer died unexpectedly in the theater.”

Link pondered for a moment and said, “If the media comes to interview, we can express our regret and reiterate our viewing instructions. This is a horror movie with a high level of thrill. People under the age of 18 and those with high blood pressure, heart disease, and other problems should be cautious. Leave the rest to the theater chains to deal with.”

“Okay, boss!”

Thank you to book friends ying999 and Qingge V Xiaoyao for their rewards.