Made in Hollywood

The pace of the entire shooting was very fast, and the experts sent by NASA also played a big role. Apart from the preliminary preparations, the astronaut who stayed in the crew also pointed out that many positions in the shooting were not in line with reality , his opinion is very pertinent, but Duke has not adopted it much.

In fact, many of the details during filming are unscientific, and they all need to give way to the movie-watching emotion that director Duke wants to create.

For example, during the shooting, the astronauts will condense water mist on the mask when they breathe, but the real situation is that this is taken into account when designing the space suit. The use of special technology will make the mask spotless. Duke shot two different The result, and then choose the untrue one when considering the choice.

Because this allows the astronauts to visualize their breathing, and it is obvious that the presence of the mask will create a sense of claustrophobia, and there is also a clear mist in the subjective shot, which makes the loneliness of being alone in space more prominent .

How to use movies to tell stories well, how to balance authenticity and drama, and how to make technology serve the narrative are the most important issues for a director to consider.

Every director has his own style and philosophy, and Duke is certainly no exception. To make the film interesting, rather than boring the audience while watching the film, is also naturally determined by the investment scale of the film.

When Scarlett Johansson was filmed listening to the radio of dogs barking and crying babies, turning off all equipment and preparing to die, Sofia Coppola happened to come to visit the set and discussed the scene with Duke.

"Seeing Scarlett sobbing silently..."

Standing next to Duke, Sofia Coppola looked at Scarlett, who was sitting on a lounge chair to touch up her makeup, and said, "I thought this was the best tragedy play I've ever seen, but I remembered your script. This feeling It’s all gone, and if Scarlett’s character dies in the end, I think it will be even more shocking.”

Hearing this, Duke couldn't help giving Sophia a pair of eyeballs, "Honey, I think you forgot. This is a commercial film with a production cost of 200 million US dollars!"

Sofia Coppola shrugged with a nonchalant expression.

Duke also emphasized, "What the audience likes to see is the joy of a successful counterattack, not the useless efforts after desperately struggling."

"Have you ever asked Scarlett's opinion on the character?" Sofia Coppola asked suddenly.

"Of course." Duke returned to his seat, ready to get busy, "She thinks this ending is very good."

If it is really according to what Sofia Coppola said, let the heroine die after countless struggles. This film will definitely rush to the Mariana Trench, and it will definitely lose everything.

These two endings are nothing more than literary and commercial choices.

In fact, Scarlett and his thoughts are very similar. When she was interviewed by the "Hollywood Reporter" a few days ago, the other party also asked her. Why did you leave the literary film and take the commercial route.

Scarlett's answer is very interesting - it is inevitable, watching movies is a kind of escapism, life is already hard enough, and the audience does not come to the cinema to find hardship. Since we are entertainment stars, they want to be entertained. But a director like Duke can package the tragedy of human nature into a fascinating survival adventure. After you complete this adventure sensory, you will also get a kind of rebirth. When you walk out of the movie theater, you may immediately want to do something to experience the beauty of being alive. This is also a kind of hope conveyed by the movie. It turns a heartbreaking story into beautiful language that makes you want to try to live.

Before Duke started work, Sofia Coppola walked over, stood behind the director's chair, and asked, "In the past two years, the female characters in the films you have produced have become more and more prominent, more tough and Gang Qiang, don’t you really become a feminist?”

Duke just shrugged, but did not give a clear answer, "Who knows."

He turned his head, only to find that Sophia's eyes were wide open, and she was looking at him curiously. He could only say, "Times are changing, and movies are changing too. I just think that such female characters are real."

Sophia knew Duke very well, knew that he hadn't finished speaking, and made a gesture of please continue.

After thinking for a while, Duke said to her again, "We have been in this circle for so long, and we have seen too many artificially created dreams, stories where everything develops in an orderly way approved by the patriarchal society, but we know that the world is Diverse, people are born different, the way of life is different, so now there are more and more movies showing different myths, and that's my favorite movie, and it's also a really interesting movie."

"Don't you think fantasy movies like Disney are boring? Boy meets girl, boy breaks up with girl, boy goes out of his way to get back with girl and live happily ever after. It's sweet, but I don't think it's funny. "

Hearing Duke's words, Sofia Coppola nodded approvingly, "That's true. I don't even think comedy can save these perfect fairy tales. Life is only interesting when there are abnormal noises and branches, just like your "Earth As described in the script of "Gravity", if the protagonist has a happy family, her relatives on earth are eagerly looking forward to her return, it is far worse than she is a person who has lost her loved ones and has no love in life. It's more appealing to have a desire to live."

"So," Duke turned his head back, and said, "Only such characters can resonate. Everyone can find themselves in a story, because there are different lives in every corner of the world, and they can also Funny, hilarious, with a happy ending, but that happy ending is delivered with vivid twists."

Outside of filming, one of the things Duke focused on the most was his team's engagement with Lucasfilm.

Since August, the news that George Lucas confirmed that he will soon retire has spread throughout the industry. The future of Lucasfilm has become the focus of many people's attention.

It is true that Lucasfilm is not comparable to the traditional Big Six companies, but its profitability is terrifying, and through Industrial Light and Magic, it can affect the future development of the entire Hollywood film industry, not to mention those that are not very competitive. The big companies, the traditional Big Six in Hollywood, all want to have Lucasfilm in their pockets.

Of course Duke wants to, but the competitors he faces are extremely powerful.

Among the six major companies, Walt Disney's desire to acquire Lucasfilm is the most urgent, while Sony Columbia Pictures is dragged down by the parent company Sony Group, which can basically be ignored.

Several other companies are judging their bids and timing.

In order to impress Lucasfilm shareholders, in the final analysis, it still depends on the quotation. In this kind of transaction involving billions of dollars, there is no more critical element than capital.

In terms of funds, Duke has an advantage. After a few months, through stock transfers and bank financing, he has a huge flow of funds in his hands, which is enough to compete with any company in terms of price.

On the other hand, the attitude of George Lucas, a key figure in Lucasfilm, is also an advantage of Duke. Given the similar bids, George Lucas himself is definitely inclined to transfer his shares to Duke. gram, that would give him the upper hand.

Moreover, Time Warner also supports Duke. Due to the impact of the liquidity shortage caused by the rapid expansion of the group, Time Warner can't offer much real money and platinum, but it still symbolically joined Duke's acquisition, and it will also treat Duke in the future. Lucasfilm Holdings.

This is a good thing for acquisitions. The executives of Lucasfilm must understand that the company will be sold, but if it is sold, they will inevitably tend to the six major companies with a wider platform, and Time Warner is the one that Duke pulled out. The best tool to offset Walt Disney's advantage.

In the ongoing negotiations, Duke's team raised the offer to $3.8 billion, which is already a premium, but if necessary, he will increase the offer to $4 billion or more.

Moreover, Duke promised to the executives of Lucasfilm that as long as the acquisition is completed, the new "Star Wars" series will be launched immediately, which means that Lucasfilm's performance in the next few years may rush to the top. A peak, and these executives can also get a lot of rewards.

For Duke, getting Lucasfilm for more than $4 billion is simply a cash cow for nothing.

Lucasfilm's ability to attract money will reach crazy levels after the launch of the new "Star Wars" series.

Duke remembers well that once the new Star Wars was released, its merchandise and peripheral licenses sold like crazy, EA - owns the "Star Wars" game franchise; Lego - produced the best-selling toy Empire Star Destroyer ; Sony Entertainment - its PS4 game console has franchise rights to related games and bundled sets; Hasbro - purchases the franchise to manufacture "Star Wars" related models...

This is just a part of it. Lucasfilm has earned more than one billion dollars in revenue just from the copyright grant before the film's release!

That doesn't include DVD and streaming revenue, which Disney made a lot of money selling original movies on DVD and streaming -- the first six films sold well during promotional periods, and the cost of a reissue for Disney Very low, so the money Disney makes is a no-brainer.

The real winner of the original acquisition of Lucasfilm was Walt Disney, another world that Duke experienced. In 2012, Walt Disney spent $4.05 billion from the creator of "Star Wars" George Lu Cass acquired Lucasfilm, a deal that was later recognized as a cheap sale, and Walt Disney was able to recover the money just by relying on product licensing and peripheral products.

Only now, facing competitors like Duke, Walt Disney has no advantage at all. (to be continued ~^~)

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