Chapter 737 The Temptation of Interest
In 2009, a movie "2012" focusing on the end of the Mayan civilization sparked heated discussions around the world and once again aroused human concerns about the end of the world. Director Roland Emmerich ( Roland-Emmerich also took this opportunity to successfully break into the public eye and establish his reputation.
In fact, this is not Roland's first disaster movie.
Back in 2004, Roland directed "The Day After Tomorrow".
Currently, there are heated discussions about the greenhouse effect, drastic climate changes and the possibility that the earth may return to the Ice Age. Thanks to this, the cartoon "Ice Age" was able to break through and achieve great results without publicity. , you can see the popularity of the greenhouse effect from the side.
"The day after tomorrow" is the same.
Although the movie has a mediocre reputation, it has achieved a remarkable box office of US$550 million worldwide. If it were not for the failure to control the production cost, the ultra-high expenditure of US$120 million would have caused the movie to fail. It has not been able to make a profit, otherwise this will undoubtedly be a work that cannot be ignored in disaster movies.
The slightly embarrassing box office performance and negative reviews of "The Day After Tomorrow" prevented the two leading actors, Jake Gyllenhaal and Emmy-Rossum, from being recognized. Both actors suffered Different degrees of backlash.
Jack therefore took the risk and chose "Brokeback Mountain", which was considered by countless film critics to be a suicidal turn; Amy later suffered two consecutive works that failed in terms of reputation and box office, completely ruining his big screen opportunities. It was not until 2011 that the situation was reopened through the TV series "Shameless".
However, "The Day After Tomorrow" allowed director Roland to win a place in Hollywood——
Although the disaster genre is declining, there is always a market. On the contrary, directors who are good at making disaster movies are becoming increasingly rare.
Before "The Day After Tomorrow", Roland's director resume was all science fiction films, and the 1998 version of "Godzilla" won him great praise; but after "The Day After Tomorrow", Roland focused on disasters The movie is twenty years old.
Now, instead of Jack’s hands, the script fell into Anson’s hands.
Obviously, historical time and space have undergone dramatic changes.
However, Anson was completely uninterested.
But it's not because of personal preference, not because of the quality of the movie or its box office success, or because of my friend Jake Gyllenhaal.
There is only one reason -
The protagonist is a middle school student.
Edgar tried to explain.
So far, in Anson's works, middle school students have been an important part of the character setting and are the key to promoting the development of the story; but this time it is different. The protagonist's middle school student setting is just a background board. It's not directly related to the story, and it doesn't matter if it's changed to a college student.
However, Anson doesn’t think so.
In the script of "The Day After Tomorrow", there are two reasons for setting the male protagonist as a middle school student.
First, he needs a father. This father is a climatologist. He is the first person to realize that the crisis is happening.
Second, they needed a main location for the story, because the main characters were all trapped here. The crew chose the Manhattan Public Library, a landmark building in New York. The male protagonist came here to participate in an academic competition and was trapped. Live.
From a story perspective, the identity of a middle school student has nothing to do with the plot; but from a story setting perspective, the scope has been defined from the beginning.
And, that's not the point.
"Captain."
"Captain, I thought that since the beginning of the 'cat and mouse game', we have been trying to get rid of the image of students, not only middle school students, but also college students."
< br>Throwing out one sentence, Anson did not engage in any more arguments or justifications.
Edgar:…
Edgar still tried to argue a few words, but he swallowed the words as they reached his mouth. His thoughts turned around in his brain twice, and he simply gave up the argument.
"Sorry, I didn't think it through."
Honestly, Edgar admitted his mistake. Anson did not pursue the matter aggressively, because this was not a "victory" but communication, exchanging opinions to seek common ground while reserving differences. He believed that Edgar must have his own considerations, and there must be a difference in perspective between the agent and the actor.
Anson looked at the slightly depressed Edgar, "Captain, how much do they pay for the film?"
"Fifteen million," Edgar said.
The answer is here.
Since the producer initially asked for a salary of fifteen million U.S. dollars, this means there is still room for negotiation. The original reason why Edgar chose this script was that he thought he could get Anson two thousand U.S. dollars. $10,000 salary.
Once successful, it will be a 20 million club.
It was impossible for Edgar not to be moved.
Therefore, Edgar chose it at the risk of repeating the character type.
But now, Edgar also admits that Anson is right. He needs to take a longer-term view and don’t disrupt his plans just because of a club with a mere 20 million. They are not Jim Carrey. Even with two Even if a film with a salary of tens of millions of dollars fails, there is still no need to worry about the position in the industry.
Without argument, Edgar readily admitted his mistake.
Anson also grasped the key point immediately, but did not continue to grasp the painful foot, and then turned his attention to the next script.
"National Treasure".
This is an interesting choice.
Led by "Raiders of the Lost Ark", adventure treasure hunting type works have always had a broad market. Later "The Da Vinci Code" can also be regarded as the same type of works. "National Treasure" chose a unique entry point to attract people. Sight:
Declaration of Independence.
The movie assumes that on the back of the Declaration of Independence, there is a clue to an amazing treasure, and the protagonist is about to use this clue to find the legendary treasure.
This is the founding foundation of the United States. Using such a well-known cultural relic to open up the mysterious history is attractive from a publicity perspective.
In fact, that's what legendary producer Jerry-Bruckheimer, the man behind "Top Gun," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "The Island," "Bad Boys," " "Black Hawk Down" and countless other classic industry veterans were also attracted to the script at a glance, showing incredible positivity and enthusiasm.
He not only persuaded Disney to invest, but also spent countless efforts to communicate and persuade the Lincoln Memorial, the National Archives and other places to conduct on-site filming.
The same is true for the general public. Many movie lovers remember this work, and Disney released a sequel to the movie three years later.
However, reality and ideals are slightly different.
This movie starring Nicolas Cage had serious budget control problems. Jerry Bruckheimer's insistence on trying to shoot in a historic place like the Lincoln Memorial hampered the crew's filming schedule and progress. Encountering severe challenges, the final production cost was as high as $100 million.
After the film was released, it only earned $340 million worldwide.
Disney only made a profit of less than 20 million US dollars, which is not a failure, but a disappointment; however, the film performed well in the DVD rental and sales market, which allowed Disney to greenlight the sequel.
This also proves that film production is not that simple.
For his part, Anson found National Treasure an interesting choice.
In fact, after the movie "Previous Life" was released, it received negative reviews from professional film critics. The overall media review was only 40 points, and the audience's evaluation was also difficult to describe.
The movie can achieve good box office results because of the die-hard audiences of treasure hunt adventure movies, who support it all the way from cinemas to DVDs.
But Anson thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to start an adventure as a character? Experience things that you cannot and dare not do in real life.
(End of this chapter)