Birth of an actor

Saturday night is usually a family activity night for the Cobden family. On this day, the whole family will go to the city to taste the newly opened foreign restaurant, or go to the cinema to watch the latest movie, or have a BBQ in the back of the house/yard. Zhou's regular family activities are a good opportunity to communicate feelings and talk about troubles, so that the children will not be dissatisfied and alienated from Mr. Cobden because of his busy work.

In view of the fact that Mr. Cobden just received a big order last month, he has been busy working overtime on weekends recently, and has to live in the company from time to time. He has missed family activities for three weeks. Under the protests of his wife and children, Today's Saturday night, he has to temporarily put aside the work at hand, and accompany his family to watch "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" which was released just yesterday.

According to "People" magazine, this movie is 161 minutes long. If it were changed to another movie, Mr. Cobden would have to wonder whether the youngest two children could sit in the movie theater for nearly three hours. , but if it is "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", there must be no problem - "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" released last year was also 152 minutes long, but even Mr. Cobden watched it with gusto , and even flipped through the original books I bought for the children.

Mr. Cobden has not seen a fairy tale book that adults and children like at the same time. It is no wonder that it has become popular all over the world in just a few years and has reached the point where everyone knows it. , author J.K. Rowling also became a billionaire solely by virtue of royalties.

Just after dinner, the second daughter Hayley and the youngest son Luke couldn't hold back their excitement. They put on their own Gryffindor robes, picked up their wands, chased each other, and gesticulated, muttering and yelling. Non-standard spells. After playing for a while, I asked them when they could go to the cinema. The wizard robes and wands were bought from Disney stores. These things are sold in Disney stores and even comic stores across the country. Popular peripherals Products are often sold out within a few days of release, such as the two limited edition chocolate babies and Bibi multi-flavored bean snacks for Christmas last year. Mr. Cobden did not grab them because he went too late, so he had to suffer from the The children's magic sounds pierced their ears all night.

Mr. Cobden took the car keys and went to the garage to drive, followed by two impatient little guys. Mrs. Cobden checked the time, walked to the door of the eldest daughter Rebecca's bedroom and knocked on the door: "Rebecca , everyone is waiting for you."

In the room, Rebecca has been lying on the bed and holding the microphone on the phone since dinner: "Is your information accurate, Steven will really go to the party at Betty's house tonight?"

"It's true. I heard that Betty has invited Steven, and he smiled and said that he would think about it."

"But today I'm going to the movies with my family—"

"Ruby, this is a rare opportunity, haven't you liked Steven for several years?"

"Yeah." Steven actually lives in the same community as the Cobden family, but Rebecca has been afraid to take the initiative, but the party should be different, everyone is very open at the party, this will be a strike-up good chance.Although Rebecca was not sure if she would really strike up a conversation: "But, the movie..."

"Come on, Rabbi, don't you pretend to be sick? Tell your mother you're sick and want to take a break, and then you drive away when they leave."

"Let me think again—" At this moment, Rebecca heard the knock on the door again, and her mother urged, "We're going to be late! Rebecca!", suddenly thinking that the show will start in 10 minutes "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", and the 25-minute drive from home to the cinema, half a minute of difficult choices between the charming Hollywood movie star and the sunny and handsome crush, a decision gradually took shape, Rebecca jumped from the bed Get up and say to the friend on the other end of the phone: "Forget it, I still don't go to the party, I want to go to the cinema with my family."

"As you like, Ruby. By the way, what movie are you going to see?"

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

"Oh no! We're going to see this movie too, and we're on our way now! See you at the cinema, Rabbi."

"See you later."

……

As a result, at the entrance of the movie theater, Rebecca not only met her friends, but also met Steven, who had been secretly in love with her for several years. It turned out that the Steven family also planned to spend Saturday night in the movie theater today.

The two families lived in the same community, of course they knew each other, and they watched the same movie, so they chose seats and bought them together. Coincidentally, Rebecca happened to sit next to Steven, and she was very shy and excited at the same time. nervous.

"Hi, Steven."

"Hi, Rebecca."

"I thought you were at Betty's party, er, I mean, I heard she invited you."

"She invited me, but I wasn't planning to go."

"So you are also a fan of "Harry Potter"?"

"I like J.K. Rowling, she writes stories for all ages, but I only came to the cinema for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Ring". I heard that the latest version of the movie trailer will post "Harry. Potter and the Chamber of Secrets came out, and I'm a huge Tolkien fan."

"What?! You like Tolkien too?"

Steven was surprised: "You too?"

"Of course!" Rebecca's eyes brightened: "But I have to admit that I don't know enough about Tolkien's works, because I only felt the story of "The Lord of the Rings" after watching the preview at the Cannes Film Festival." Interested, I bought his complete set of books, but I haven’t read all of them.” Of course, she actually bought the book for the elves that William Brandley and Orlando Bloom glimpsed in the trailer There is no need to talk about this matter.

"Have you read The Silmarillion?"

"not yet."

"Then you must read it. This is a real mythical epic. It is the beginning of everything in Middle-earth. It is a very serious, grand, sad and beautiful book. It took Tolkien 60 years to write it."

Rebecca hasn't read The Silmarillion, but she's read at least The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as the Harry Potter series, and there's no shortage of things to talk about, although there's a little Small dispute - Steven believes that as a linguist, Tolkien specially created the prophecy of the elves for his novels, so that it has a sense of thickness like a real myth. This is the third part of "The Lord of the Rings" The reason why Qu is far better than other fantasy novels such as "Harry Potter", "The Chronicles of Narnia", "A Song of Ice and Fire", and Rebecca feels that Tolkien wrote an epic masterpiece, and Rowling wrote It is a magical legend, if the great classic, it is certainly "Lord of the Rings", but if it is fascinating, "Harry Potter" is undoubtedly more attractive to readers, especially younger readers - but proper debate can help Opening up her heart, Rebecca is now very grateful that she finally came to the movie theater. If she pretended to be sick and slipped to Betty's party, she would really get nothing.

And then they talked about life, like they live in the same neighborhood, colleges are not too far away—Steven is at the University of Chicago, Rebecca is at Northwestern University in Evanston, not far from Chicago— But why do they rarely meet.

Just as the two young people were getting to know each other better, the lights in the cinema suddenly went dark, and the big screen was dark at first, and then the melodious and ethereal music began to sound. It suddenly became bright, and when the trailer started, she couldn't say anything.

……

Cate Blanchett has an extremely charming contralto, and with her slightly hoarse narration, a picture of Middle-earth slowly unfolds before the eyes of all audiences.

"The world has changed."

"Everything in the past has been lost, and no one remembers it now."

"History becomes legend, and legend becomes myth."

When the long-standing legend was lost in the years, the nineteen Lord of the Rings fell into the world, and a new era in Middle-earth began. This is the chapter of the Supreme Lord of the Rings.

The Supreme Lord of the Rings created by Sauron, the Dark Lord, has the evil power to enslave the world and other Lords of the same age. In the battle between the Human Elf Alliance and Sauron's half-orc army 3000 years ago, the alliance won and obtained the Supreme Lord of the Rings. After thousands of years, the Lord of the Rings fell into the hands of Gollum and was picked up by Bilbo the Hobbit.

Bilbo has been living in the picturesque Xanadu Shire. Before the 111th birthday party, his old friend Gandalf the gray robe visited him and told him that Sauron, the dark lord, knew that the Lord of the Rings was in the hands of the hobbits and was gathering half News that the orc army is preparing to make a comeback.

Realizing that he has gradually been influenced by the Lord of the Rings during the years of getting along, after the lively and happy birthday party, Bilbo left everything to his nephew Frodo, and continued to take risks by himself, while Frodo wanted to protect his hometown Shire from being killed by Sauron. Torn apart, embarked on the journey to escort the Lord of the Rings to Rivendell, the sanctuary of the elves...

A journey begins here.

Then the screen returns to darkness again.

In just 2 minutes, there is no time to taste, and the trailer is over.

However, Cate Blanchett's voice is a slightly hoarse and elegant contralto, and the narration she reads has a legendary and mysterious flavor, leaving people with infinite yearning and thoughts.

"Did you see it? Did you see it!" Rebecca slapped Steven's arm excitedly: "Kate is so beautiful! Will almost takes my breath away! And those scenery, my God!"

After getting excited, Rebecca realized that she had accidentally exposed her fangirl nature. Fortunately, Steven didn't mind, he didn't even feel the "slap" sound of his arm being slapped, because his mood at this time More boiling than Rebecca.

Rivendell, the sanctuary of the elves, the Shire, the last paradise in Middle-earth, the Forest of Fangorn, the Misty Mountains, the Anduin River... Every illusory and beautiful place described in Tolkien's book flashed on the screen one after another, Although they are just fleeting shots, for diehard fans who are familiar with every detail of "The Lord of the Rings", it is enough to make them recognize these places and be excited about them.

"I saw it and can't wait! When is the movie coming out - in a month?! Oh God!"

I have to say that it is a very wise decision for "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Lord of the Rings" to broadcast the trailer when "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is released. It is both a fantasy theme and a PG-13 rating. The audiences of the two films already partly overlap. If some fans became interested in the trailer when watching "Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets", then they have a high chance of choosing the same when "Lord of the Rings" is released. go to.

And because of the trailer, there are indeed a lot of fans who are interested in "Lord of the Rings".

Especially the elves. Compared with the first version of the trailer, there are too many shots of elves appearing in this version of the trailer, and the perspective is a bit like unfolding from the perspective of elves, perhaps similar to Cate Blanche who played Galadriel. It is especially responsible for the narration-the first version of the trailer is narrated by Ian McKellen, and it is also narrated from the perspective of Gandalf, the gray robe mage, focusing on Sauron's conspiracy and the adventures of the journey of the Fellowship of the Ring.

In the new trailer, Glorfindel, who fought bloody battles between the Human Elf Alliance and the Orcs 3000 years ago, Elrond at the Rivendell meeting, and Legolas who insisted on joining the Fellowship of the Ring to defend Frodo Arwen, who gave Aragorn the Evening Star Necklace as a token of love, and Galadriel, who kissed Frodo's forehead to give blessings, all had such a demeanor that they could leave a deep impression on everyone, so that the whole movie theater People, whether adults or children, cannot help but be shocked by the extremely beautiful pictures and characters.

Especially kids are asking: "Why does that little guy live in the cellar? Is it comfortable in there? Why does that person look so BlingBling? Is he/she an elf?"

Parents who know something about "The Lord of the Rings" can describe the story of the Lord of the Rings to their children at this time and get a lot of "WOW" eyes, while parents who also know nothing will use other methods Reassure the other party: "I think you guessed right, dear, it should be the elf, as for the little man who lives in the cellar-why don't we keep the suspense and find the answer when the movie is released?"

……

The new "Lord of the Rings" trailer hit fans so hard that when the big screens came back on, Harry Potter's magical soundtrack rang out for a while, starring Daniel Radcliffe's Faces appeared in the narrow windows on the second floor of No. 4 Privet Drive, and the audience in the screening hall completely quieted down, and began to appreciate "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", which set several world box office records last year. "The sequel.

Anyone who watched "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" last year will know that Steven Spielberg not only completely faithful to the original storyline of J.K. Rowling, but also based on the original work. Many adaptations of innocence and fantasy, such as the part where the Sorting Hat sings, are very straightforward in the original book, but in the movie, Spielberg boldly inserted a short passage about the founding of Hogwarts by the Big Four based on the lyrics of the Sorting Hat. The silhouette-style [-]D animation related to Cici, because of its outstanding special effects, not only is not obtrusive, but also highlights the magical style of the film. It is one of the most classic fragments of "Sorcerer's Stone" recognized by movie fans and book fans.

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is the same as the previous work, the narrative sequence is completely in accordance with the original work, and there is no major change. The appearance of Dobby the kind, sensitive and masochistic house elf is the first highlight, which makes everyone Fans who have watched "ET: The Extraterrestrial" were pleasantly surprised that Dobby's image is very similar to ET's, but he looks much more "normal" than ET, with kindness and flexibility shining in his two pairs of tennis ball-sized protruding eyes The brilliance of the film made many old movie fans very cordial.

In order to prevent Harry from returning to Hogwarts, the house elf Dobby played a prank on the Dursleys, which made Harry's life at his aunt's house worse. Fortunately, Ron and the Weasley twins could fly The car suddenly appeared in the middle of the night, took Harry to the Burrow, and then the red-haired, tall and thin Mr. Weasley, played by Colin Firth, appeared with a good-natured expression.

From Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice" six years ago, to "BJ's Diary" released in the first half of this year, most of Colin Firth's roles on the screen are noble and restrained characters—" In Shakespeare in Love, although he played a villain role, he is also a nobleman who is worthy of the title in front of the Queen—Mr. Weasley and Colin Firth's usual screen image are completely opposite, so easy-going that there is almost no sense of existence , the behavior is so weird that even his wife doesn't understand, fans have seen Colin's glamorous side a lot, and suddenly seeing him play such an interesting role, this feeling...is quite fresh.

The female movie fans who watched "BJ's Diary" half a year ago can't find a trace of Mark Darcy in Colin Firth.

And the fresher contrast is yet to come. When the arrogant Lucius Malfoy and the peacock-like Lockhard appear on the stage, he is familiar with William Bradley and Hugh Grant's various movies. Viewers of the work almost rolled their eyes out.

The roles Hugh Grant often plays are similar to his usual image, they are all suave public lovers, but in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", he wears pink, light yellow and purple clothes. Silk costumes, to play Professor Lockhart who loves vanity, exaggerated behavior and empty-headedness, exudes a tacky and gorgeous taste, just like Colin Firth before, because he broke people's previous stereotypes, and brought Come to a very novel and interesting movie-watching experience.

But William Bradley's Lucius Malfoy is a different story. Lucius Malfoy is a crafty villain, or rather, a rich villain - he wears fussy and ornate robes (At least three layers are worn inside), and it is covered with exquisite patterns, the buttons are all made of silver, and snake-shaped jewelry is worn on the chest. When there is light in front, the dark green gemstones on the neckline will flash In a blink of an eye, the price of the clothes did not seem to be cheaper than Lockhart's, but the choice of colors was much more low-key.

J.K. Rowling did not give Lucius Malfoy any positive description, and Spielberg did not think about changing the setting of this character. No matter who he looked at, William frowned slightly, and the corners of his mouth The look of pursing lightly and contemptuous eyes fully satisfies the children's imagination of the rich and jerk father of a school bully classmate who commits all kinds of crimes.

Especially when Lucius in the movie wears black leather gloves that have never been taken off, brushes the hair on Harry Potter's forehead with a silver snake head, with a fake smile on his face, and speaks in a low and hoarse voice. When he got the lightning scar, everyone could feel his ulterior motives through the screen.

——Except for one thing, Lucius Malfoy seems to be a good father. There are many details that show that he really cares about Draco. This character has become a little more humane from a facialized villain.

However, the problem is that, 10 minutes ago, people have only seen another character played by William, who also has long golden hair and gorgeous costumes, Glorfindel, Lord of the Golden Flower.

Rebecca Cobden was the one who opened her mouth and couldn't close it again.

Although they both have long blond hair, the Glorfindel with a halo of holiness in the "Lord of the Rings" trailer just now, and the arrogant and cunning Malfoy on the screen are like two twins who look the same but are completely different In fact, Rebecca has never had an accurate understanding of acting skills until now.

Ask Rebecca to say what William Bradley's performance is outstanding, she can't say, but she can clearly feel that every character William has created has a quality in him, but every character is not William Bradley, are absolutely different from each other, what they have in common is that they all have a wonderful charm that makes people unable to take their eyes off.

The basilisk that has been hidden for thousands of years in the Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets and the young Voldemort in the form of a soul in the notebook are the final bosses of the film, but Lucius Malfoy has contracted the other villains except for these two.

Lucius Malfoy hid a large number of illegal magical items in his home, and secretly slipped an old diary of Voldemort to Ginny Weasley. The diary contained memories of Voldemort when he was 16 years old. Through this diary, Voldemort Successfully used Ginny to open the secret room, released the basilisk inside, and created a series of terrorist incidents in Hogwarts.Then, using Hogwarts as an excuse that it was no longer safe, Lucius Malfoy forced other directors of the school board to sign a removal order, forcing Dumbledore to leave Hogwarts and driving Hagrid away at the same time. The purpose of controlling the school by oneself.

However, the Chamber of Secrets was finally opened by Harry Potter, and with the help of his friends, Harry not only killed the Basilisk, but also destroyed the memory of the young Voldemort and saved Ginny's life. Of course, at the same time It also thwarted Lucius' evil plan, Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts, and Lucius rushed into the school in a rage, and was even designed by Harry with a small trick, so that Dobby, the house elf of the Malfoy family, got free.

The end of the film is of course a happy ending. Dumbledore is back, Hagrid is back, and all the students who were petrified woke up. All the teachers and students of Hogwarts gathered together for the last meal before the end of the school year. For a dinner, bright candles and a joyous atmosphere filled them, and the brightly lit Hogwarts looked like a fantasy castle in a fairy tale in the night.

The whole movie lasted nearly three hours, but none of the audience felt uncomfortable. They didn't even feel the passage of time, as if they had gone through a wonderful and beautiful journey. When the ending song sounded, most of the people's faces The expression on the face is relaxed and happy, even smiling.

Rebecca stretched slightly, and said to Steven, who was sitting next to her, "It's a good movie, isn't it?"

"Watching such a family movie with the whole family on a winter weekend is indeed very warm." Steven said: "However, I still miss "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring". Now I think "The Lord of the Rings" will be released next month." It's a good idea to have it released just now, a month to get Lucius Malfoy out of my head and make room for Glorfindel."

Rebecca finally plucked up the courage: "Have you made an appointment to watch "Lord of the Rings" together?"

"Not yet." Steven looked at Rebecca, his expression changed from doubt to surprise, and then he blushed a little: "Uh, why don't we go together? If you're free then."

"I'm free anytime! Well, no, I mean, I should be free then."

"Then it's settled?"

"It's a word."

In the screening hall, many spectators waited until the ending song was played before starting to leave. Many children tugged at their parents’ sleeves and begged them to bring them to the cinema to watch it again.

Perhaps this is the ability of Steven Spielberg. He is a master of commercial films and is also very good at dreaming. Spielberg's fairy-tale movies can always warm people's hearts and make people laugh. I even want to relive it again and again.

Therefore, it is only natural that the box office of the movie is blowing out like "Sorcerer's Stone".

……

"Steven Spielberg once again brought an extremely successful commercial adaptation of "Harry Potter". If J.K. Rowling's original work is very good, then Spielberg's A ten for a film adaptation." - The New York Times

"The supporting cast of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is more luxurious than the first one, just because the wonderful performances of the old actors are worth the price of admission, people can't help but start to look forward to what will be in the third part Big-name actors.” —Variety

"Spielberg continued the same warm and magical style as "The Sorcerer's Stone" in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". The whole film is full of positive fairy tale atmosphere, and the special effects are even better. More than a pleasant surprise, the special effects of the Whomping Willow, man-eating spider and basilisk are spooky, but not scary enough to give kids nightmares at night." --Chicago Tribune

Basically, there is no suspense at all. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" has received a lot of praise after its release, whether it is film critics, fans of the original book or ordinary movie fans, all are applauded. The box office is also the best proof of the film's reputation.

——Yes, that's right, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" continued the brilliance of the previous work, and once again won the first box office title in film history, shocking the global film market unexpectedly and unexpectedly.

When "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was released last year, it became the first film in film history with a premiere box office of 9326 million U.S. dollars. Now "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" has even won 1.03 million U.S. dollars. Incredible box office, also recorded in the annals of history, although the decline in the next week is slightly larger than that of the first film - media analysis is that it was released slightly later in North America, the freshness of movie fans has decreased, and the relationship between other commercial blockbusters in the same period - but the authoritative box office agency estimates It is estimated that "The Chamber of Secrets" can still achieve the same global box office results as "The Philosopher's Stone" in the end.

That is, around a billion dollars at the box office.

The speed of gold mining is so fast that it is no longer a hen that lays golden eggs. The "Harry Potter" series is directly a big gold mine.

Come to think of it, four books in the Harry Potter series have been published, and J.K. Rowling is writing a fifth, which, according to her one interview with the BBC, is likely to be enough for seven. This is the end of the book - Rowling admits to being a bit obsessed with the number "7" - if every movie's box office is so crazy, God, there are no simple words to describe the mood of other Hollywood studios.

These film companies probably want to join forces to get rid of Willot. If it weren't for Universal being in charge of the distribution of the "Lord of the Rings" series, Warner was in charge of the "Harry Potter" series, and DreamWorks was one of the production partners. First, Disney has signed a lot of movie and book peripherals and Disneyland project contracts, and if William has friendship with many high-level executives of [-]th Century Fox and Sony (pre-Columbia)... Uh, maybe William has a wide network and a rich net worth , the surname Roderick is not easy to mess with and other reasons.

Perhaps MGM, Paramount, Miramax and other film companies are very afraid, but they have been unable to prevent Willot from growing.

When "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was released worldwide and its box office records were rising steadily, with more than a week left before Christmas, a large number of media from all over the world suddenly flooded into Wellington, the capital of New Zealand , A large number of enthusiastic fans came with them, and the turbulent crowd made this city that was a bit quiet in the past suddenly become lively.

There's a reason why international flights to New Zealand have suddenly become tight, because - this year's most anticipated fantasy film "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" will hold its world premiere at Wellington's Ambassador Theatre.

The premiere was held in New Zealand instead of Los Angeles. In addition to the film being filmed in New Zealand, a similar verbal agreement was reached with the New Zealand government at the time, and director Peter Jackson's striving for the picturesque hometown was also one of the reasons.

New Zealand also attaches great importance to the premiere of "The Lord of the Rings". The mayor of Wellington, Kelly Plinder, will personally attend and preside over the film's premiere ceremony. In the streets and alleys, they also actively gathered around the airport and theaters, cheering for every star who arrived.

The premiere has not yet started, but at least tens of thousands of Wellingtonians have gathered on the roads around the Ambassador Theatre, and the number is still increasing. The local TV station also sent a satellite car to broadcast live, so that audiences in other parts of New Zealand It was watched on TV, and the media from the United States and other countries and regions would not even be able to squeeze in the road within 500 meters of the theater if they hadn't shown their ID cards.

Such a grand premiere ceremony is not only unprecedented for New Zealanders, but also never seen by actors from Hollywood such as William. To be honest, the crowded traffic on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles can only accommodate thousands of people. It's amazing - the enthusiasm of New Zealand movie fans made these actors, who are used to seeing big scenes, start to get nervous.