Birth of an actor

Jonathan Bates has walked into the theater to watch "Fight Club" for the fourth time.

One minute before the start of the screening, while the lights above his head were still on, he looked around, and blinked slowly when he saw that about 1% of the seats in the screening hall that could accommodate more than 200 people were empty. , I don’t know how to evaluate such an attendance rate.

At the premiere, the movie theater that Jonathan Bates went to was full, there was a long queue outside the ticket window, posters of "Fight Club" were plastered inside and outside the movie theater, and the movie tickets for the midnight show were all sold out. its popularity;

When I watched it for the second time, although there were still so many screening halls, the attendance rate was less than [-]%. When Jonathan was buying tickets, he saw with his own eyes that a teenager who insisted on watching "Fight Club" was persuaded by his mother. Instead, he bought tickets for other movies because "this movie will teach young people badly."The posters that had been pasted all over the cinema had all been torn off. Jonathan found a lot by the trash can in the alley outside, and he picked out the ones that were still intact and took them back for collection.

The reason for all this is that "Fight Club" caused a lot of panic in some people who saw it-those who saw the movie and felt angry, slammed the film, especially at the age of 45 The above generation, that is, the post-war baby boomer generation, they are the backbone of this modern society and the vested interests, and they no longer have the time and opportunity to change, so they will be particularly angry, just like Kay After the release of "American Beauty" starring Vin Spacey, it also attracted criticism and dissatisfaction from the American middle class, especially middle-class men, because the film almost uncovered their bloody spiritual scars.

The impact of "Fight Club" is far more serious than that of "American Beauty", because the former has far more bloody and violent scenes than the latter. When it was released at the Venice Film Festival, the evaluation of the film was a bit polarized Differentiation, most of the media said that "Fight Club" reminded them of "A Clockwork Orange", but at that time, there were more praises than criticisms. Now after the film was released, some sensitive scenes in it immediately hurt some viewers group nerves.

In particular, there was a scene in the movie where a member of a fight club provoked a priest and poured the Bible wet, which aroused strong resentment among believers, and some newspapers headed by the Christian Science Monitor even more Directly joined the wave of opposition to the film.

Some people say this movie is full of darkness and violence without any warmth, some people say this movie is advocating fascism and anarchism, especially older middle-class parents, they themselves hate this movie , and very worried about the bad influence their children would have after watching the movie, they protested fiercely. "Fight Club" lashed out at the violent tendencies in Hollywood movies.

When Jonathan Bates came to the movie theater for the third time, due to social pressure, the movie theater had greatly reduced the number of screening halls and the number of shows, but the attendance rate increased significantly compared to the second time, reaching [-]% or more One point, and the number of young people who watched "Fight Club" began to increase, and their acceptance and loyalty to the film also increased significantly. Many young viewers even turned around and bought the second one after watching the movie for the first time. movie ticket.

It was also from this time that more fresh, unused, and even objective and neutral voices appeared in the discussion about "Fight Club". Rick's movie "A Clockwork Orange" - released in 1971, "A Clockwork Orange" is one of the most peculiar classics in film history, discussing many philosophical issues such as human free will, in order to highlight the deprivation of others' free choice of good and evil The theme that the government scientific institutions of rights are more evil than villains, the movie is filled with a lot of violent and pornographic scenes, the first 20 minutes of the movie even exaggerated the scenes of the male protagonist Alex doing evil, which made the movie, when it was released that year, Many people watched the beginning and left angrily. Some media said it was a cancer in the film industry. Politicians said that the film was blackening the government and praising anarchism. Feminists hated the film. Parents feared that their children would Follow the film to learn bad. When "A Clockwork Orange" was nominated for an Oscar, the film was banned in the UK for nearly 30 years. It was not until the death of Stanley Kubrick this spring that there were rumors that the film was lifted. .

But now the treatment of "Fight Club" is very similar to that of "A Clockwork Orange". Criticism", belittled like "Washington Post" directly accused the film of being full of "fascist tendencies", a little more neutral is the "New York Times" "Fight Club" dares to criticize the spirit of modern society, but it is very It is easy to be misunderstood as anarchism."

However, probably out of curiosity and rebellious psychology, the more criticism of "Fight Club" in society, the more popular movies are among young people, especially college students and office workers who have just entered the society. This also made the audience who watched this movie form two distinct factions. One faction held a pilgrim-like mentality and was extremely excited after walking out of the movie theater, while the other faction left before the show ended, saying that the film Ridiculous.

Now watching it for the fourth time, Jonathan can clearly feel that the attendance rate of the movie has begun to pick up again. This is probably due to the rapid popularity of the movie among young people, and not only in the United States, but also in Europe. It has been sought after by a large number of young people, because the version released in the UK has two less bloody scenes than the American version, and it has also aroused protests from many young movie fans in the UK.

As for why "Fight Club" can spread quickly among young people, probably because the movie is really cool?

Although there are no thrilling scenes such as racing car chases and bullet shooting, the exciting scenes are not less than those in general action blockbusters, especially those real fighting scenes in the film, the stimulation of punching to the flesh, and the fierce blood splashing, let While the scalp was numb and couldn't help screaming, at the same time, I felt that the whole person was shocked from the inside to the outside, as if... It's like they think this burger plus subway represents a kind of person, French restaurant plus The dissatisfaction of the society where supercars represent another kind of people has been vented!

In the fight club, no one has a name, and no one has money, status, and rights attached to these names. In the club, everyone is equal. They liberate their hearts and find themselves by giving up material life and fighting. ——This is exactly what some young audiences worry about and desire. They don't want to be imprisoned in this consumerist commercial society. They are afraid that they will get lost in the monotonous life day after day. Change the status quo of life, even change the world.

"Fight Club" is really a very special movie. Whether it is the unique flashback style of the movie, the director's MTV-like shooting skills, or the shocking ending of the movie, it brings great excitement to young audiences. , Jonathan Bates remembers opening his mouth when he first saw the end credits.

But now, every time he watches the movie again, Jonathan has new and different insights.

He found that David Fincher actually said what he wanted to say most through his lines from the very beginning, "Sooner or later, big companies will name everything, IBM Planet, Microsoft Galaxy, Starbucks Planet", which is the director's dissatisfaction with commercial dictatorship, The Starbucks coffee cups in the hands of everyone in the typing room, including the protagonist Jack, and their mechanical and repetitive copying actions also confirm the loss of people's unique personality in an over-commercial society.

And Taylor, played by Brad Pitt, actually appeared four times in the film before he officially met Jack on the plane for the first time, once in the typing room of Jack's company, once in the hospital, and once in testicular cancer. In the Mutual Aid Association, after Jack and Mara failed to communicate and Mara turned around to leave, but these four occurrences were only a short second, or even less than a second, so Jonathan Bates didn't know until he saw the first It took four passes of the film before I was sure I had caught all the flashes.

Of course, the director has already hinted at the ending, and these hints run through the entire movie, until the answer—Taylor is Jack, they are actually a person who split into two personalities—is finally solved, Those who saw the hint but were still puzzled finally realized it.

Jonathan Bates still remembers how stunned he was when he saw the ending for the first time, and when he walked into the cinema for the second and third time, he was able to collect all the clues given by the director, including The four previous flashes of Taylor were actually the director's hint that "Taylor is not real", because before Jack met Taylor, how could Taylor flash frequently in the scene where Jack appeared?This of course means that Taylor is actually an imagined person, not a real one.

For example, in many of Jack's lines, those who say that he and Taylor's briefcase are exactly the same, and sometimes Taylor will speak for him, etc., are all hints of "Taylor is actually Jack", which is the clearest and least accurate at the same time. One that is easy to spot is that after Jack’s home was burned, he called Taylor and he didn’t answer, but when he immediately received a call back from Taylor, there was actually a sticker on the public phone booth behind him saying “This number can only be made but not Answer"--this has proved that the call Taylor made back was actually a product of Jack's imagination.

After the shock of watching the movie for the first time, the remaining few times became a journey of thinking and exploring for Jonathan Bates. He was intoxicated by the different personality charms of Jack and Taylor, and repeatedly felt that they were actually one person. Surprised, he likes to hear other audiences screaming in surprise every time he watches the end of the movie. The high-paced plot setting and a lot of hidden details of the movie make him never feel that the movie is boring no matter how many times he watches it, and every time he watches it can generate new ideas.

Depictions of people with multiple personalities (schizophrenia), criticisms of a society that relies on consumption, discussions of the lack of beliefs in modern society, and even the powerlessness and anxiety of men who were originally in the dominant position in society with the rise of feminism , and more complex and profound psychological activities, all of which are described in "Fight Club".

As for the columnists in the New York Times and the Washington Post arguing about whether "Fight Club" glorifies anarchism, Jonathan also started out for Fight Club's personality cult of Taylor, and those bloody He even thought for a while, "Why did William Bradley take such a movie?", but later he found that although there were a little more violent scenes in the movie, the director had no doubts He holds a negative attitude towards violence, and David Fincher has already given the answer-the destruction of the members of the Fight Club in the film made Jack feel frightened. He tried every means to stop the terrorist activities in the club. After it was himself, he even did not hesitate to shoot himself and kill another self (Taylor) to stop it. This is exactly the director's denial of extreme individualism or anarchism that has fallen into madness.

Perhaps David Fincher's pursuit of the beauty of the picture made him over-exaggerate some violence, but he is definitely not praising them. He just presents these dark sides of society bloodily in front of all audiences, allowing them to analyze and judge by themselves.

This is why "Fight Club" is so misunderstood by society, and it is one of the reasons why young people like Jonathan Bates fall in love with it. , Philosophy, sociology, psychology and many other puzzles, and such puzzles are often the favorite of young people.

'Maybe those middle-aged people will also like this movie, if they are willing to watch it again and think about it quietly. With this in mind, Jonathan Bates opened the comment page of the IMDB website, tapped the keyboard, and wrote a title: "David Fincher's hints, how many did you find?" "

Maybe he can't change the minds of those professional film critics who have already drawn their conclusions, such as Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times". This well-known American film critic has already understood what "Fight Club" is talking about, but Still said "Maybe many people like it, but not including me." In this way, however, Jonathan thinks he can always win more audiences for this movie and attract some of them to watch it a second time. For the third time, Jonathan believes that the first time "Fight Club" may bring shock and confusion about the ending, but as long as you watch it again, you will definitely be able to learn more and deeper thoughts from the movie.

……

"I really didn't expect to be on Oprah's show again so soon, and with you." Standing in the backstage of the studio of ABC's Chicago TV station, Brad Pitt looked at only a few TV stations. The ceiling of the lighting studio said suddenly.

"Coincidentally, I think the same thing." William, who was standing side by side with Brad Pitt, nodded slightly. Hearing the sound of Oprah Winfrey interacting with the audience across the wall, he inadvertently looked at Pitt. People's eyes meet, and there is emotion and complexity in each other's eyes.

It is not the first time for William and Brad Pitt to come to "Oprah's Talk Show". Both of them have done a personal interview here before, and both have achieved excellent publicity effects, but this time as special guests together It is indeed the first time to participate in the program, and it is also something that the two of them could not have expected before.

The promotion of this talk show was facilitated by Twentieth Century Fox alone. In addition to the production cost of 7000 million US dollars, Fox also spent a large amount of dollars on publicity. The current North American box office of the film is not as high as the production cost, and the global box office combined is not enough to pay back.

This is a crisis that is enough for the head of Fox's film department to resign and leave, if the film's box office and word-of-mouth are ultimately failed to be saved.

Bad things don't just come one by one.Discussions about whether "Fight Club" has "anarchism" or "fascist tendencies" are still raging. With the fanatical discussions of media fans and the enthusiastic pursuit of young audiences, neutral voices and good speeches have increased. The shadow that was cast finally began to fade little by little. Finally, the box office showed signs of recovery, but the media began to "expose the truth" and hype the news about the two leading actors of "Fight Club", saying that Brad Pitt and William Bradley, "From the very first day they joined the team, they were displeased with each other. During the filming, they fought several times and were hostile to each other. How can a movie with different starring roles be made well? "Fight Club" is now miserable Both Pete and Bradley must bear unshirkable responsibility for the circumstances."

Well, the crisis encountered by "Fight Club" has little to do with William and Brad Pitt-the acting skills of the two leading actors are impeccable, Brad Pitt from "Twelve Monkeys" Afterwards, he was very good at playing the role of Taylor, and the scene where William and Jack masochized himself to the point of blood in order to avenge his boss, the calm performance that hides madness, symbolizes that Jack's personality is influenced by Taylor's personality, and also It can be said to be a fusion of two personalities. It is called by many film critics as one of the most shocking plots of the film. The opposition and controversy caused by the film mainly come from some plots and lines. To be honest, this pot is usually It's up to the director to recite it—but now, it's clear that someone wants "Fight Club" to collapse and drag the two leading actors to hell with them.

The box office results of Brad Pitt's films in recent years have been extremely poor. The year before last, "Walking with the Devil" co-starring with Harrison Ford was a double disaster in terms of word-of-mouth and box office. The taste of the film has a lot to do with it, but several films in a row failed at the box office, and the actor himself will inevitably bear the reputation of "box office poison". Although "Fight Club" is only William's first film, it seems that the box office will not be able to make up for it. However, because none of his previous films was not a big hit, it seems that the box office failure of "Fight Club" is extremely obvious. Although it will not have any bad drag on William in a short period of time, the media is more bad-mouthing , will still have some influence.

So even if they don't like each other anymore, William and Pete will join hands to fight back, because firstly, their relationship is not as bad as the enemy, and secondly, they don't want to let the conspiracy of those who have a heart succeed.

And the best occasions to clarify inappropriate scandals are naturally various talk shows and interviews.The reason why "Oprah's Talk Show" was chosen is because the two largest audience groups of this show, college students and housewives with more free time, happen to have diametrically opposite views on "Fight Club". Fox includes The public relations of both of them think that going on "Oprah's Talk Show" can get the best publicity effect.

College student movie fans are one of the most popular groups for "Fight Club". It is said that those posters that have been removed from the movie theater have become the best decorations on the bedside of many college boys' dormitories. College girls also have a high degree of acceptance of the film. Fox’s original expectations were different. They originally thought that not many women would like to watch a movie about men fighting. Part of it, the group of housewives with stronger purchasing power changed their previous support for Brad Pitt and William Bradley. They not only disliked "Fight Club" but even opposed it. They came from the two top handsome guys in Hollywood. The beautiful bodies of women did not eliminate their disgust and fear when they saw violent scenes.

"I don't know how they will react when we show up in a while." Maybe it was the long wait for a few minutes to appear, or maybe it was the sudden realization that the relationship with William Bradley had to improve, Brad · Pete has nothing to say.

"I'm more worried about whether we can cooperate with each other tacitly." William said: "Let's talk about it first, everything is for the promotion of the movie, don't expose the shortcomings."

"Shouldn't be a problem? I've always felt that, except for our differences on some issues, we are still similar or even the same in many other places." Pete thought thoughtfully: "And those differences, maybe you are right... "He quickly realized that the current time and place are not suitable for talking about any in-depth topics, so he quickly stopped.

William also changed the subject smoothly and said angrily, "What was the deepest impression when you came here last time?"

"Screaming, applause, lots of privacy issues."

"Well, hopefully this time we—" William stopped mid-sentence, and Pete didn't continue to ask, because they both heard Oprah Winfrey's voice from across the wall.

"Who is the next pair of guests tonight? This question is very simple. They come from a movie that is currently being released." In the studio hall, Oprah Winfrey paused for a while pretending to be mysterious, and suddenly raised her voice: "Welcome to William Bradley and Brad Pitt from the movie Fight Club!"

“啊啊啊——！！！”巨大的尖叫声从台下响起，不少女性观众一边用双手拍着自己的脸颊或抓着头发，一边大张着嘴巴朝旁边的人发问：“什么? Who did she say?"

"Do I look okay?"

"Where's the mirror? Where's the mirror!"

Backstage, beckoned by the director's assistant wearing a headset, William and Brad Pitt faced the loud screams from the studio wall outside the wall, stepped up the steps and walked outside, but they hadn't turned around the decorative screen Walking into the studio hall, I heard Oprah Winfrey's voice to stop:

"Please wait another minute later, boys, ladies don't want to see you so soon, uh, they need some time to tidy up."

……

"I have hosted talk shows for more than ten years. In this studio and at such a recording site, I have never seen such a spectacular scene of ladies putting on make-up together." When William and Pete appeared in the studio , after greeting Oprah and settling down on the couch, Oprah Winfrey said in a voice that couldn't help but laugh.

The camera in the audience pans across the faces of some women in the audience who are opening their mouths and laughing, and it was them just now, after knowing who the guest of tonight's special show is - behind the couch where Oprah Winfrey is sitting During the break time, the photos on the projection plane have been changed from the last guest to the poster of the movie "Fight Club" --- before William and Pete appeared, they seized the short time to look in the mirror desperately to make up, Some pressed the face with a powder puff, some reapplied lipstick, some combed their hair, and even more exaggeratedly applied mascara on the spot, which showed the beauty-loving side of women to the fullest.

Hearing what Oprah said, William and Pete stood up from the sofa and waved and smiled towards the audience again, causing screams and feeling a lot more at ease. At least the atmosphere at the scene is so good, which shows that the popularity of the two is still high. Very high, publicity should also be able to reap the desired effect.

Because it is a program dedicated to the promotion of "Fight Club", rather than a personal interview that will talk about other work and life, William and Pete only have a 15-minute interview. The topic said: "All the audience is very excited to have you here, but let's talk about a new movie that you have recently collaborated on. Can you tell us what kind of movie it is? I'm sure there are many women and I haven't seen the movie either. "Fight Club", the name doesn't sound romantic enough or attractive enough."

"This movie is a bit masculine. In fact, Fox originally planned to show the trailer in the middle of the live broadcast of the US Boxing Finals, but was persuaded by the director. Fincher thought that although the movie was called Fight Club, But the main audience is not those who will watch live boxing matches.” Brad Pitt answered Oprah’s question sternly: “Fight Club is a movie full of unpredictable plots, and it is difficult to make a conclusion. It's amazing, provocative, but also thought-provoking, and maybe that's the beauty of the film."

When Pete was answering Oprah's question, William observed the audience, most of whom were older professional women and housewives, most of them were blank expressions or simply didn't like it, showing interested expressions There are really not many.Or like Oprah said, it doesn't sound romantic, and a movie that sounds like it's about guys fighting doesn't really appeal to women, even if it's played by a handsome guy they like.

So, the sluggish box office of "Fight Club" should actually have part of the reason for the title?Thinking about this, William quickly put on a smile and joined the conversation between Oprah and Pete: "I think the movie is quite romantic, especially the last scene, with Helena and I holding hands and watching the world destroy. That feeling. Very eerie, but also very romantic."

"No spoilers, Will, no spoilers! You're almost telling the ending." Pete protested strongly to William, and then looked at the audience with his PuppyEyes: "They won't go to the cinema again if they know the ending .”

"Hand in hand to see the destruction of the world? If it is really as romantic as Will said, I think I will probably walk into the movie theater." Oprah said: "Speaking of which, I seem to have this clip on hand, which can make Let's have a sneak peek—"

Oprah, William, and Pete turned around from the sofa together and looked at the big screen at the back. However, the ending of the movie was not actually shown on it, but the ending was full of romantic atmosphere but at the same time it did not reveal anything. The scene of the drama --

The trembling picture and the flickering fire declared that this scene was different at this time, and the decadent and lyrical music exaggerated the romantic atmosphere. Jack, played by William, had a bruised right eye socket, but there was a tender and affectionate light in his eyes. Watching him, Mara (Helena) says, "When we met, it happened to be the weirdest time of my life."

Several audience members who had already watched the movie couldn't help but let out short screams.

The broadcast of this scene also made Brad Pitt feel a false alarm.Fortunately, the scene where the skyscrapers collapse one after another was not broadcast, and that is the real spoiler.

Oprah: "It's a really creepy but also a very romantic scene, although I still don't understand what the line is saying, and why William's face looks like that, did he get punched ?”

William: "Yeah, I get punched a lot in this movie, like by Brad."

——The two people who never called each other's names during the filming period, because of this program, they no longer only call each other by their surnames.

Pete: "I'm often beaten badly by you too, okay?"

William: "To each other." Looking at Oprah: "During that time, we were often wounded by each other's beatings, and we were almost disfigured."

Pete: "I dislocated my arm."

William: "I almost broke my finger."

Pete: "I've had two stitches in the corner of my eye."

William: "I have a tooth that is still loose."

Pete looked at William: "Do you know that I almost lost my appearance?"

William looked back at Pete: "Do you know how expensive it is to see a dentist?"

Although the two of them were complaining and accusing both inside and outside the words, there was not much sense of blame in their tone, and they were even laughing while talking. It didn't look like they had a bad relationship, but they seemed to be friends with a good relationship. The kind of unscrupulous speech state.

Oprah: "The two of you are not at odds like the newspapers said. On the contrary, you seem to have a good relationship, just like bad friends who often joke with each other."

William: "Who is a bad friend with him? Our relationship is actually not that good."

Pete: "It's just passable."

But the more the two said this, the more Oprah and the audience believed that the relationship between William and Pete was really not bad.This is the group's rebellious psychology. The harder you try to explain, the less people believe it, and the more calm the situation, the easier it is for people to believe it.

Oprah said while thinking: "It is said that there is a formula for making bombs in the movie?"

William: "Fake. After all, the movie is going to be shown in public. We can't have a real bomb in the script, right?"

Pete: "The crew took into account the possibility that someone secretly tried to make a bomb according to the steps in the movie, so all the recipes for making bombs in the movie are fake."

Oprah: "But too much violence is still an unavoidable problem with Fight Club, right?"

Pitt: "I've always believed that David Fincher's intention was not to show violence, but to show something other than violence. There are too many elements in this movie that can't be summed up in simple words. It involves chemistry, biology— —”

William: "There are also fields of philosophy and psychology."

Oprah: "So if you want to know what the hell this movie is like, you'd better go see it yourself in a theater?"

Pete: "It would be best if that's the case."

William: "One has to watch it to know that 'Fight Club' is more than just a movie about guys fighting."

Oprah: "Let's watch another 'Fight Club' clip—"

The three turned around again, and another excerpt from the movie began to play on the big screen in the studio. It was not as long as the one played just now, only about 20 seconds. The difference was that the clip just now belonged to William. This snippet is from Brad Pitt:

Jack stepped up the creaking old stairs, and the sound of a woman screaming, panting, and whipping came from Taylor's bedroom on the second floor, which attracted him. There was a vague figure moving through the open door, and Jack slowly approached That door, peering in through the gap with his eyes——

"What are you doing?" Tyler asked suddenly, opening the door.

A naked Taylor with bronzed skin and eight-pack abs, wearing only a pair of yellow rubber gloves.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

"The woman in the room with you, Brad, is also Helena?" Oprah asked pretendingly surprised, "Are you two rivals in love in the movie?"

William and Pete looked at each other, and suddenly smiled tacitly at the same time: "Oh, this..."