Made in Hollywood

"You're one of the most talented young directors I've ever seen."

Sitting at a table, Roger Albert looked at Duke opposite, like a teacher with rich knowledge and experience, teaching students who are talented but incompetent, "What you capture in the picture, the logic of the film The editing and the use of lens technology are unique..."

He said earnestly, "You shouldn't waste these on vulgar commercial films. Go to the independent film circle. Only there can you hone your extraordinary film art."

"Art?" Duke looked puzzled.

"It's only there that you can get artistic recognition," says Roger Ebert, "to be a top director."

"Mr. Albert, you are an authority in the film critic industry. I am young and have experienced few things. I believe you will not lie to me."

Speaking of which, Duke thought for a moment before speaking again, "Could it be that directors who only shoot commercial or popular films can't reach the pinnacle of the film world?"

"Popular?" Roger Albert shook his head directly, "Popular means vulgar, art has always been in the hands of only a few people! Duke, your desire for destruction now completely exceeds the pursuit of art. This is a wrong path. …”

Then, he put on a somewhat sad expression, "I admire you very much, as well as Kenneth, and several other film critics, also appreciate your talent, you are young, talented and enterprising, If you can correct the wrong steps you just took in time..."

Critics' appreciation? Duke had the urge to roll his eyes, but he endured it. He really didn't care about film critics or something.

Besides, can you really not be the top film director in the world by making popular films? It seems that James Cameron has never made a literary film, but no one can shake his position in the film industry.

With his own mature ideas, Duke would never change his plans just to listen to the rhetoric of a film critic, even if the man was called Roger Ebert.

"That... Mr. Albert."

This was a complete ideological disagreement, and Duke finally couldn't hold back, "As far as I know, George Lucas passed..."

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Roger Albert, "Lucas? Has he won an Oscar for best director?"

The face of this famous film critic is not very good-looking. Duke's inadvertent words touched his heart. More than ten years ago, he also abused "Star Wars" as one of the doomed movies. The slap in the face of the fan, even if I think about it now, my heart will ache.

"I guess Oscar doesn't mean everything?" Duke tried to soften his tone.

"Brave Island" is about to be released, and it's not good to have a standoff with these top film critics. Although he doesn't care about their voices, these guys are still influential.

The concept of the two people's treatment of the film can be described as completely different. Roger Albert said a few more words. Seeing that Duke was all prevarication, he simply walked away.

"Oscar is not everything..."

Suddenly there was a monotonous nasal voice from the back, Sophia came over, pulled out a chair, sat directly next to Duke, and joked, "Director Rosenberg's self-confidence is completely bursting."

"Everyone wants to get the Oscar." Duke shrugged and said indifferently, "but there's no need to take it too seriously."

No matter what other directors do, Duke won't go out of his way to shoot a movie that's going to win an award just because he wants to win the best director.

"Why don't you go upstairs for an interview?"

Debate on this topic will not result in a day, Sophia simply changed the topic, "The response of the media reporters to the film is good."

"The focus of publicity now is Li." Duke said, spreading his hands, "Besides, I'm a director, not a star who needs exposure."

The incident of Sean Connery is still fermenting. As his ex-wife joins the ranks of accusers, more and more black histories have been dug up by the media. Under the PR planning of Warner, the media constantly compares Christopher Lee with him. , By the way, even the role of John Mason and "Brave Dead Island" have been constantly mentioned by the media, and the effect of publicity has fully achieved expectations.

In addition to the routine publicity projects, the pre-promotion of "Brave the Dead Island" also mainly revolves around the legendary experience of Christopher Lee. After the film is released, it will focus on new publicity points.

This is the most basic claiming strategy of the film, and the propagandist will never throw all the cards out at once.

The public relations of the party are mainly based on Warner, Duke is completely accompany the guests, he only needs to smile when he should laugh, and say a few words when he needs to say something. He is not an arrogant and stereotyped person. normal human interaction.

Of course, the relationship with these film critics who are sucking blood in the film industry is all false, and the most important thing is the checks and expensive gifts sent by Warner Bros.

According to Robin Grande, for Roger Albert alone, Warner's budget was $250,000.

Even if the other party has a newspaper column and a film review program, this is still an attractive figure.

The PR party ended very late, and when Duke walked out of the hotel, his face seemed to freeze with laughter.

As the night wore on, the top-floor conference room of the Fox Tower in Century City was brightly lit. Several Fox executives, including Townsend Rothman, the CAA agency headed by Martin Bob, and Tom Cruise and Brad The main creators, including Pitt, are sitting on both sides of the long conference table.

"I got the audience survey feedback statistics for the preview of "Brave to the Dead Island"." Martin Bob hung up the call he just received and said slowly.

For the Hollywood giants, there are not too many secrets in this circle, not to mention the results of the test screenings are generally not within the scope of the major companies' secrecy.

Martin Bob didn't mean to sell off, and said directly, "Warner has recovered a total of 456 questionnaires, including 415 questionnaires with A and A+ ratings, and only 17 ratings below C!"

Everyone's faces are not very good-looking, and Townsend Rothman's brows are even slightly wrinkled. This is simply the test screening word-of-mouth of "Life and Death". According to the audience's word-of-mouth box office conversion rate of "Life and Death", "Brave" Dead Island" is likely to create amazing North American box office results.

For a moment, Townsend Rothman came up with the idea of ​​postponing the release date of "Interview with the Vampire", but then gave up. "Interview with the Vampire" was released on the first weekend of the promotional month since the filming started. Coupled with the intensive publicity in post-production, 20th Century Fox has invested nearly five million dollars in publicity expenses alone. If the film rashly changes the release date, a considerable part of these funds will be wasted, not only the pre-promotion work of the film. It will be turned into useless work, and the contract signed with the theater will also be voided, which means that there is still a payment for liquidated damages.

Besides, "Interview with the Vampire" also held a test screening some time ago, and the test screening reputation is not worse than "Brave the Dead Island", the only disadvantage is the type of the film.

"Townsend, the other party lacks first-line stars in the publicity." Martin Bob looked confident on the surface, as if "Interview with the Vampire" would be like CAA's past packaging projects. Next to Cruise, "Don't forget, we have Tom."

Tom Cruise raised his chin habitually. He does have the capital to be proud of. Today's first-line superstars have unparalleled box office appeal in the Internet information age. Since "Top Gun", he can be called a movie. Guaranteed sales.

No matter how you look at it, "Interview with the Vampire" is not only no worse than "Brave on the Deadly Island", but it has also managed to stabilize. According to the past experience of Hollywood, the gap between the films released in the same period is not too big, which is reflected in the box office. There is often a small difference in numbers above.

Fox's executives discussed a few words, and then finalized the final plan. "Interview with the Vampire" will keep the original release date unchanged, and at the same time increase the publicity, whether Tom Cruise has some scandals or lace recently, In short, to attract the attention of the public and the media.

How can we better promote the movie? Not only 20th Century Fox, but also Duke and Warner Bros. will face this problem. Like "Interview with the Vampire", if "Brave to the Dead Island" is rescheduled, it will also face Huge losses, and commercial masterpieces are released every weekend in the summer program. None of them are easy to pinch. If the film is withdrawn from the summer program, the pre-publicity work will be completely useless.

Fortunately, the commercial of "Brave the Dead Island" once appeared in the Super Bowl, which left a deep impression on the North American public and made up for the gap in the appeal of actors to a certain extent.

Before the arrival of May, "Brave to the Dead Island" and "Interview with the Vampire" appeared intensively in major media, and the media and film critics who participated in the previews of the two films cheered and launched the final and most critical propaganda bombing.

Although "Brave to the Dead Island" is obviously more suitable for the popcorn atmosphere of the summer season, Duke will not take it lightly. This era is the stage when Tom Cruise is on the rise, and Brad Pitt is also accumulating popularity. , Kirsten Dunst is also a famous child star, plus the reader base of the original novel, "Interview with the Vampire" is definitely a strong opponent.

But he is not afraid. If he backs down because he is afraid of competition, he might as well quit this cruel circle as soon as possible. Which top director did not rush out in the siege of each work?

As the first weekend of May is getting closer, Warner's preparations for the premiere of the film are gradually ready, and the premiere of the film is finally arranged on the entertainment plaza of Alcatraz Island. In terms of the attractiveness of the venue, "Brave the Dead Island" completely beats "Interview with the Vampire".

However, after all, the film depends on its own quality and commercial performance, and these will have to wait for the premiere to have specific feedback.

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