Made in Hollywood

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Paramount, the only major Hollywood production company that still sticks to the region, just in 1993, as the representative of traditional Hollywood companies and independent studios, Paramount finally fell into Viacom. Under the group's Jin Yuan offensive, this also marked the complete end of the era of independent Hollywood production, and the film industry has ushered in an era of real giant competition.

But Paramount Pictures, which has just received the support of Viacom, a huge media conglomerate, has not had a smooth time in the past.

First, because of the acquisition case, many of its film projects, including "Forrest Gump", had to be temporarily suspended; after finally waiting for the project to be launched, "Forrest Gump", which had been planned for several years, was also due to adaptation problems. The original author, Winston Grumman, had a dispute, and the two sides almost went to court; after everything subsided and the crew was completely on the right track, an inexplicable fire broke out on the set, forcing the crew to do a lot of work all over again...

Also, when the film was set up in the first half of the year, it was announced that it would be released in North America in early July next year. Who knew that an "Independence Day" would pop up later, and it was said that the release date had always been on the Independence Day holiday and Memorial Day. Swinging between, Paramount also chose to wait and see temporarily, and a few days ago, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox finally announced the release date of "Independence Day" - the Independence Day holiday!

This is very close to the release time of "Forrest Gump", and the two sides are bound to have fierce competition.

"Wendy, what do you think?"

Sitting behind her desk, Paramount's new CEO Shelly Lansing looked at the producer of "Forrest Gump" and asked, "Does Forrest Gump compete directly with Independence Day?"

"Shelly, you should know the director Duke Rosenberg."

As a famous Hollywood producer, Wendy Feinerman seems to be full of worries, "In my opinion, Duke was born for the summer vacation, "Independence Day" is a hot sci-fi action movie, from his It can be guessed in the first two films that the possibility of him missing is extremely small, and "Forrest Gump" is naturally at a disadvantage in terms of investment and genre."

"Jonathan, what's your opinion?" Shelley Lansing asked Paramount's executive director.

"I suggest not to collide with that destructive film directly in the summer." Jonathan Dugan said directly, "'Forrest Gump' has a good readership, and Tom Hanks also has a certain box office appeal. , but don't forget "Interview with the Vampire" and Tom Cruise, to be precise, their subject matter has an advantage over "Forrest Gump", but it is in the fire with "Brave Island" lost."

What's the best movie for summer? None of the people here are laymen. In terms of subject matter, the popcorn film made by Duke Rosenberg can be said to be a typical summer blockbuster film.

"The official promotion of "Forrest Gump" has not yet started." Shelley Lansing asked for comments, "It's too late to adjust the release date..."

Hollywood doesn't have too many secrets. The news that Paramount Pictures moved the release date of "Forrest Gump" a month earlier reached Duke's ears. He was slightly surprised, and then heaved a sigh of relief.

The situation is obvious, Paramount Pictures is trying to avoid "Independence Day", which is the reason for Duke's confusion. After all, "Forrest Gump" is a work that can sweep North America, and it is relieved that it lacks the power of the same period. In addition to competitors, I also want to understand the reason.

He knew that "Forrest Gump" once swept North America, but Paramount and the investors of "Forrest Gump" did not know that although this film has a distinct nostalgic theme, it is not as good as "Independence Day". A typical summer popcorn, obviously not dominant in terms of subject matter, in addition to investment quota and early audience and media attention, it can be said that it is much worse.

The important thing is that he has proved his competitiveness in the past two summer programs. "Speed ​​of Life" faced the advantageous project of "Alien 3", not only successfully overwhelmed the box office, but also won the box office for two weeks. Championship.

When it came to "Breaking the Dead Island", the opponents were replaced by the more powerful "Interview with the Vampire" and Tom Cruise, but they still won the competition, not only grabbed the throne of the weekly box office chart, but also suppressed the Stallone's "The Heroes of the Mountain" once again won two consecutive championships in North America.

Paramount will not ignore these factors, even if the film has Tom Hanks, the new Oscar winner.

What's more, the relative failure of "Interview with the Vampire" has also made many filmmakers more aware of the importance of the theme for the summer season.

Of course, not every film company believes that only popcorn movies are suitable for summer. Although Paramount's "Forrest Gump" chose to back down, the vacated weekend period has allowed other companies to see the potential Taking this opportunity, a prison-themed film produced by Castle Rock Pictures and distributed by Columbia Pictures immediately wisely occupied the schedule that originally belonged to "Forrest Gump".

This schedule change can be said to be an alternative competition in Hollywood, and it is also a smart choice made by many films that consider themselves weak.

However, none of these affected Duke. The preparatory work for the film finally came to an end before Christmas. After returning to Santa Monica to spend the Christmas holiday with his mother, the filming finally no longer revolved around stunts and explosions, but also the actors. join it.

"Stan, are you ready?"

Through a layer of glass, Duke asked Stan Winston next to him, "Not just two hands, I want all the tentacles of the alien to move."

"Don't worry." Stan Winston gave Duke a thumbs up.

Duke nodded and shouted behind him, "John, get ready!"

John Schwartzman took control of a camera himself, and Ben Watts set up the Steadicam, moving the shots at the right angles.

"start!"

Through a layer of glass, Duke gestured to the people in the isolation room and retreated into the distance.

Mr. President and several soldiers who had already chosen the position immediately came over. One of them also checked the situation of the lower glass wall. Suddenly, a scientist who was strangled by tentacles was clinging to the glass, looking extremely frightened... …

Standing next to John Schwartzman, Duke watched the performance of the group of actors. Frankly speaking, except for Bill Pullman, who played the president, everyone else showed signs of overexertion to varying degrees, and their expressions were a little bit obvious. Exaggerated, but he didn't mean to stop. For this film, the acting requirements are above the standard line. If this group of people is not qualified, then Will Smith can be fired directly now.

The shot ended with the glass curtain wall shattering, and Duke checked the shot and nodded.

The aliens here are all shot with models, and the tentacles waving come from the mechanical operation of a special effects artist, holding the scientist's two alien hands, which are just two prop hands, which are controlled by another prop artist on their arms .

Except for the rows of aliens in the final outer space battleship, which were generated by CGI, the other aliens were all shot with the same model. As Johnson said, it was enough to betray the truth.

A few more scenes about aliens were filmed. Duke led the crew to transition. The scene here has already been arranged. Will Smith and Jeff Golomb sat inside the alien spaceship, familiarizing themselves with the environment and rehearsing. The next scene.

"Jeff, and Will."

Standing in front of the two guys, Duke said as succinctly as possible, "You see hope in the predicament, and the excitement is more nervous. Don't forget, there are not only chasing troops, but also nuclear bombs that will explode at any time."

For Jeff Golumbus, Duke is more at ease. Although this actor has limited acting skills, he has appeared in many films and has rich experience. Will Smith is the difficulty. Since joining the shooting, even if It's Duke's requirements for actors that are very lax, and his average number of NGs per shot is close to double digits.

The same is true this time. The alien spaceship Park Yi swayed as soon as the shooting started. The nervous expression on the face of this future superstar whose acting skills will continue to deteriorate immediately turned into an exaggerated lion's roar.

"Cut!"

After shouting to stop, Duke dodged the cables on the ground, walked into the spaceship, looked at Will Smith who looked apologetic after making a mistake, and finally suppressed his anger. Losing his temper would only increase Smith's pressure, since If you choose to activate him, you should also be mentally prepared.

"Will!" Duke said very seriously, "Remember one thing, you are an actor now, not a hip-hop singer. If the expression of a hip-hop singer appears in the next shooting, I will send you to the studio. On top, let you sing R\u0026B on it all day!"

"You just have to be excited and nervous! Think about your first time on stage! Don't tell me, you'll be fine then."

Although you can give some guidance, you can also use the camera position and the angle of the lens to properly improve Will Smith's performance in the lens, but Duke is just a director, not a director with a super aura.

The time and energy of the crew are limited. If Will Smith continues to be bad, Duke intends to only give him the back shot. Fortunately, in the subsequent shooting, Will Smith's performance is slightly better, although the progress is limited, but also After NG three times, the shooting ended successfully.

Perhaps Duke's requirements were relatively loose, or perhaps it was the experience of "Breaking the Dead Island", the backbone team cooperated more tacitly, and Duke made great progress after shooting two consecutive films. The filming, which relied more on special effects rather than actors, went very well.

1993 passed in a blink of an eye, 1994 followed, and halfway through January, news came from the Pentagon that both Edwards Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range would enter a short-term blank period, and the crew could enter the set to shoot.