Birth of an actor

"Fox invested 2760 million US dollars and only produced two things, except for a big ship destined to break into two pieces and sink in the deep sea, and the true dog-blood love triangle story about bitches, villains and third parties. After Monday's box office statistics came out, it did not surprise most people that the cumulative revenue of "Titanic" in the weekend was only 2 million U.S. dollars, which was less than the 3300 million of "Scream 2" released a week ago. US dollars, while the production cost of "Scream 2500" was only 2 million US dollars, which is one-eighth of "Titanic"-"Scream 1000" once paid [-] million US dollars to invite William Bradley continued to play, but was rejected, I don't know if he regrets it now."

After reading this, Langston took a moment, his lips like rose petals were slightly pressed together, but William said without hesitation: "Go on."

William didn't seem to be bothered by the bad review at all, which Lance felt was a bit of an understatement, since it was the first review for Titanic and usually the first to speak up gets the most out of it. Favorable opportunities to guide a considerable portion of the comments.

But since William asked, Lance still read on: "I heard that the top executives of Fox and Paramount have prepared a pistol before, and are ready to use it if the movie is not successful. Now, They're ready to pull the safety catch."

William raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Tsk, Andre Acheson is really ruthless."

"Don't you think this guy is disgusting?" Even Danny Byrne felt that William's reaction was abnormal.

"If this film review was written by Roger Ebert, I would probably have burned the newspaper in shame and anger. But Andre Acheson?" William curled his mouth and smiled indifferently, comforting the two Humanity: "Andrew Acheson is a well-known sensationalist. Apart from misleading the public, his comments are almost despised by professionals. So, Lance, Danny, you don't have to help me. So nervous."

——In fact, William was able to not care, except that he really didn't take Andre Acheson, a sensationalist, to heart, and because the box office of "Titanic" actually didn't have Andre Acheson As bad as said.Yes, the opening weekend of $2760 million was nothing compared to last week's "Scream 2," but the biggest reason for the latter's impressive opening weekend was last year's "Scream" starring William. The good word-of-mouth of "Scream 1" drove the box office of the second film. Although the box office of "Titanic" in the first weekend was not amazing, it was considered the best among the three films released on the same day.

"Tomorrow's Empire" and "Mouse Catcher" premiered on the same day as "Titanic". "Mice" was a bit miserable, with a box office of only 2514 million US dollars in its opening weekend, becoming the biggest cannon fodder for "Titanic" colliding with "Tomorrow's Empire". It is worth mentioning that although the box office performance is still impressive, but "Tomorrow Empire" is the only film since the birth of the 619 series that failed to top the North American box office chart in its premiere week. Although "Titanic"'s box office of 007 million US dollars is not surprising, it is overwhelming. James Bond, who had been highly regarded before.

"Roger Ebert, is the film critic of the "Chicago Sun-Times" right?" Lance pulled out a newspaper directly: "The second person who wrote the film review is him."

William immediately showed an expression of interest: "What did he say?"

The water in those green eyes was rippling, and the eyelashes were like the wings of gray doves, flickering and eye-catching. Such an expression was a knowing blow to Lance. He moved away his pair of eyes uncomfortably. No less blue eyes, with a light cough, read the report: ""Titanic", a big ship that will never "sink" on the screen,"

"Sounds like a good review."

"Titanic, which was released across the United States at midnight on weekends, has two commendable advantages, one is the special effects, and the other is the story. The investment of [-] million US dollars by Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount has not been in vain. In fact, Every penny is reflected in the film, whether it is the magnificent sailing scene of the Titanic or the breathtaking special effects of the shipwreck, it can be called the film with the best special effects in this century, even far surpassing all other films of the same period. type of film."

Lance reads film reviews in an elegant Cambridge accent, and it seems that even the image of Roger Ebert's wise and steady film critic jumps out: "In terms of story, although "Titanic" tells about love and disaster, it does not It is not a pure love movie or a disaster movie, it tells more about human nature. Whether it is Rose who loves freedom and hates bondage, Carl, a rich young man who is tortured by jealousy, or Jack, who is kind and romantic, are all emotions Rich and flesh-and-blood characters, besides the protagonist, the performances of supporting actors and even actors are even more eye-catching. The aristocratic passengers in the first class, the ordinary civilians in the third class, and the workers at the bottom, each has its own unique personality and emotions, especially when the Titanic was about to sink, the performance of each passenger with different identities coping with the disaster is a vivid image of social beings in the early twentieth century."

"It is indeed a good review. Roger Ebert gave three and a half stars. And he also gave the reason for the rating under the stars-"Titanic" is a movie with profound connotations and many details. And it is worth savoring at least two or three times for everyone. Three and a half stars are preliminary ratings. Next, the Roger Ebert column of the "Chicago Sun" will continue to bring follow-up film reviews of "Titanic" report."

Danny Bourne asked suspiciously: "Didn't Roger Ebert mention the actor's performance? Did he mention Will?"

Lance read every page of the "Chicago Sun" carefully, even the advertisement column, and then shook his head regretfully: "No. But AO Scott of the New York Times said that "Titanic" is Your best film to date, to say that you understand the character of Cal Hockley more than anyone else."

"Perhaps Roger Ebert is going to comment on the performance of the actors in the following film reviews, but since he has already given such a high evaluation to "Titanic", it doesn't matter whether he will praise the actors alone, after all, compared to Jimmy , We have contributed too little to the film." William said.

"Your contribution is quite a lot, Will, didn't you get a penny of salary when you made this movie?" Danny Byrne said: "Amon has been nagging about this every day for the past few days. , My ears are almost calloused."

William, who is no longer short of money, suddenly remembered that all his salary was filled in "Titanic", and the box office and DVD sharing agreement signed with 18th Century Fox was also in black and white—if this big ship According to the original historical trajectory, if he has swept the box office of 1000 billion US dollars in the world, then he can directly get a bonus of more than [-] million US dollars from the box office. If the follow-up share of the DVD release is added, it may be doubled. ?

Although this amount of money is not a huge amount of money for William now, it is very commemorative and symbolic. "Titanic" is not only his first movie in which he directly participated in dividends as an actor, And let him get the friendship from Fox executives and James Cameron, and more importantly, in any future film, William is eligible to request to participate in the later dividends as an actor-after all, he has already There have been precedents, and what made him an exception was "Titanic", a classic masterpiece destined to be famous in film and television.

William also decided that after receiving his share of dividends from 10th Century Fox and Paramount, he would give his agent Amon Goffman a big red envelope, 15%?No, at least 20%, or [-]%.But that's all for the future, and now William can only hope that "Titanic" can achieve its historically destined achievement.

……

Although the "Chicago Sun" is incomparable with big newspapers such as the "Los Angeles Times" and the "New York Times", because of the presence of Roger Ebert, the status of this newspaper in Hollywood is not inferior to that of the "New York Times". "How much, if Andre Acheson's bad review of "Entertainment Weekly" caused ten points of damage to "Titanic", then Roger Ebert's film review not only made up for all the damage , It even led to the overall increase in the word-of-mouth of "Titanic".

After the premiere of "Titanic", among the first nine media outlets that gave film reviews, only four were positive. However, in the second week, the negative reviews did not increase, but the positive reviews continued to rise. Fu, in the second week of its release, the box office of "Titanic" will not rise, reaching 3746 million US dollars, and in the third week it broke through 4000 million US dollars.

This is simply a miraculous box office trend, and people with a keen sense of smell almost immediately concluded that "Titanic" will be another movie that makes history—normal box office trends, usually the highest in the first week, For good films, there will be a slight rebound in the second week, and then the box office will decline steadily until the next level. For movies with poor reputation, the box office decline may even reach more than 50% after the first week. The rising films are basically destined to create new records, such as the former "Godfather".

The reason why the box office performance of "Titanic" bucks the trend is that the longer the release time, the higher the box office. In addition to the fact that it is indeed an impeccable movie, it is also because the movie has caused a sensation in the United States and even the United States since its release. Heated discussions and huge controversies among movie fans around the world:

Variety said: "'Titanic' is a movie about love, freedom and death."

"Empire" said: "The film's portrayal of human nature is very profound. The entire Titanic is a microcosm of society. Every class has its own problems. When disaster strikes, passengers of different classes and status face the sinking ship. The choice at the time was impressive."

"The New Yorker" said: "The Titanic divides passengers into classes according to property and social status, first class, second class, and third class. The rich people in the first class not only enjoy the best everything on board, but also own this big ship. and they are blindly arrogant to believe that the Titanic will never sink. When the Titanic finally hits an iceberg, the rich people in the first class still have the highest chance of surviving—even if it is a love movie , James Cameron also gave it a special ironic meaning, "Titanic" can be used as a microcosm of the country, but also as a microcosm of the world."

"Washington Post" said: ""Titanic" is enough to be selected as the greatest love movie of the [-]th century, and Jack and Rose also have the most beautiful love of the [-]th century."

"New York Times" and "Washington Post" competed: "The love between Jack and Ruth may be great, but it is not necessarily the most beautiful, because their love and union are based on Ruth's betrayal of her fiancé, Carl. You can get it. Although Carl Hockley is not a good person, he treats Ruth and love in the way of materializing money, but for a steel king heir who is not innocent, does not understand art and cannot talk Continuing to pay huge sums of money is the most romantic thing he can do."

"James Cameron once said at the premiere of "Titanic" that Carl turned back when he was about to board the rescue cabin, not to find 'Heart of the Ocean' but to find Ruth—— Carl may be a bad guy, a loser, but he is also a victim, the biggest cannon fodder in the love between Jack and Rose."

"William Bradley, the most popular movie star among Hollywood actors in the 70s, even used his delicate acting skills to vividly show Cal Hockley's complex character and tragic love. The role of cannon fodder in Ruth's love, not only has not been annihilated, but has bloomed an extraordinary brilliance in the cracks of the protagonist's love, which can be called the most thought-provoking and discussion-worthy role among all the supporting roles in "Titanic."

"Titanic" was originally a movie with rich connotations and even more amazing details—only at the end of the movie, the photos of the elderly Ruth's bedside were swept by the camera in just a few seconds. They are all full of a plot and a story, and all of them have traces to follow, and can find their counterparts in the previous films-it seems that every character and every plot has too many different angles for interpretation.

For example, some of the most heated debates among the media and movie fans: What is the theme of "Titanic"?Should Ruth and Jack's love be celebrated or condemned?Is Carl's feelings for Ruth control or love?Why did Ruth throw away "Heart of the Ocean"?Losing Jack, why did Ruth live so happily to be more than 100 years old?

When there are too many questions, but too many people give different answers, so that people have no choice, of course they have to go to the cinema to find the answer.

A random street survey produced by ABC TV's headline news program "Good Morning America" ​​revealed the secrets of countless fans going to the cinema to watch "Titanic" again and again:

Whether it is New York, Los Angeles, Boston or Chicago, there are long queues at the ticket windows with posters of "Titanic" during the golden viewing hours.

"Is this the first time you've watched Titanic?"

A lady dressed as a housewife glanced at the camera shyly: "The third time."

"Why watch this movie over and over again?"

The housewife's expression seemed more tangled and heartbroken than Ruth herself: "Because I still don't understand why Ruth threw away the 'Heart of the Ocean', Jesus, that's the biggest diamond in the world, and she It has been preserved for more than 80 years!"

"Is this the first time you've watched Titanic?"

A dazed-looking brown-haired girl in glasses and a plaid shirt ducked her head to avoid the camera and said, "The seventh time."

"What keeps you coming to the cinema?"

"The newspaper said that the last shot of the movie, and every picture of the old Ruth's bedside has a meaning. My friend and I are competing to see who can count the number of pictures first, what was taken, and what meaning!" The brown-haired girl forgets her shyness when she talks about having fun, and she seems to be able to see her spittle splashing everywhere through the screen: "Also we disagree with Entertainment Weekly and the New York Post that Carl is a total Bad guy, although Jack is handsome, we can also see the love in Carl's eyes when he looks at Ruth, the eyes will never lie! Really, so we have to look for evidence in the movie, and then submit it to the newspaper Contradict them!"

"Contribute to the "Good Morning America" ​​program group, and we will broadcast it." The cameraman of NBC TV station came with a flying voice-over.

The brown-haired girl nodded heavily: "We will!"

"Is this the first time you've watched Titanic?"

An old gentleman who seemed to be in his 70s looked at the camera approaching him reservedly, looked at the camera out of politeness and nodded slightly and said, "It's the first time."

"But "Titanic" has been released for three weeks?" The host's voice sounded very surprised.

The old gentleman's polite attitude broke instantly, and he even said to the camera angrily: "All the ladies in my family, except my dead wife, are all obsessed with "Titanic". I have to come See what's so great about this movie."

"Is this the first time you've watched Titanic?"

"Nineteen times," said a handsome young man dressed very trendy with a cynical smile on his lips.

"Oh my god, I'm almost watching one every day! Do you love this movie?"

"Love? Maybe, because Titanic is the best date movie of the year, and almost every girl can't turn down an invitation. Hey, you know what, I've seen it with fourteen different girls." It's the movie, it was a wonderful experience, except for the fact that the shoulders of the coat are soaked with tears every time - hey, photographer! I'm not done yet, where are you going?"

The disdainful voices of the NBC host and cameraman floated from afar: "It's for your own good that we don't continue the interview, young man, so that you won't be beaten up by those fourteen girls,"