Birth of an actor

Some people may disagree: Tom Cruise has been in contact with the big screen since 1981, and he has made seventeen or eight movies if there are not twenty. What's so strange about a film whose box office exceeds Tom Cruise's?

But if you are in the Hollywood industry, you will definitely be surprised by the current phenomenon: "Mr. Honey" was released on December 12, and "Scream" was released on December 13. The release dates of the two films The difference is only a week, and the preemptive ones are all Christmas schedules. It does not mean that one has been released for a month or two and the other has just been released. Because it is also in the peak period of release, but the resources in all aspects are very different, so about the two. The comparison of all aspects of this film is of special practical significance, and it can also explain many problems.

First, despite being rated R (under 17s accompanied by an adult), "Mr. Honey" is about a self-serving, pessimistic sports agent who resigns from an indifferent company and walks away with only a A secretary and an outdated football player, and then through hard work to make the athlete rejuvenate his career, he re-recognized himself. The ultimate career love double rich dream inspirational story, "Mr. Sweetheart" will be rated R only because of Tom G Ruth and Renee Zellweger have a lot of romantic love scenes. There is no need to describe what kind of story "Scream" tells. The groups are wider, and "Scream" uses its bloody shots to tell everyone that "this is really a horror thriller".

Secondly, the publicity campaign before the release of "Mr. Sweetheart" was bombing, only Tom Cruise's $2000 million salary plus 15% of the box office share, the scandal between Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger, Tom Cruise Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage and other lace news have been hyped for a long time. As long as one month before the film's release, almost the entire American society knows that Tom Cruise has another movie to be released at the end of the year, and Although "Scream" and "Mr. The movie posters that were released, as well as the trailers where the phone rang and screamed.

In addition, in terms of theater screenings, the number of theaters for the premiere of "Mr. Sweetheart" has exceeded 2500, while "Scream" has not exceeded 2500 theaters for the third week after its box office has risen for two consecutive weeks.

The last and most important point is that the United States is now in the most superstitious era of superstars!Today's Hollywood is a Hollywood where superstars can stand alone at the box office!Every movie, as long as there are Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, and Tom Cruise in the starring column, investors will wave their checks, and audiences will wave their money and run into the movie theater !

And this year is also the hottest year since Tom Cruise's debut!

Since starring in "Ambition of the Earth" and "Great Sea of ​​Justice" in 1992, Tom Cruise has entered the Hollywood actor club with tens of millions of dollars in salary. Since "Mission: Impossible 1996" and "Mr. After Jim Carrey, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Mel Gibson, Hollywood is the fourth actor to enter the 1 million club, even if you count the first one in history to enter the 2000 million club and use the gimmick of his retirement Barbra Streisand, who only got such a high salary, can also be ranked fifth in history.

In 1995 and 1996, he won the No.1 Forbes Celebrity List for two consecutive years. Two movies with a salary of more than 2000 million in a year, among which "Mission: Impossible" although the domestic box office is average (investment of 8000 million in North American box office of 1.8 million, the ROI ratio is only 2.25) , but the overseas box office was as high as 2.76 million, and the final global box office was 4.57 million, which also detonated the Hollywood spy film market. It is reported that the other six major Hollywood film companies now have the idea of ​​preparing spy films.

It can be said that in Hollywood today, Tom Cruise is the guarantee of the box office - otherwise, it is normal for the commercial blockbuster "Mission: Impossible" with an investment of 8000 million to give him 2000 million at the box office. The best script is the inspirational and warm "Mr. Sweetheart". Why did you spend 2000 million to hire Tom Cruise?Isn't it for the other party to drive the popularity of the box office?

In addition to the fact that the release date was a little bit late a week, no matter how you look at it, the box office of "Scream" should not be able to surpass "Mr. Keep up the momentum!

I don't know how many film companies, investors, producers, directors, actors, and even agents and managers in Hollywood are puzzled at this time and think: Christmas should be a family reunion, a day for the family to enjoy a happy holiday , When people go to the cinema at this time, they are more inclined to choose comedies, cartoons, and romance movies that can be watched by multiple people. Why do they prefer horror movies this year?

They first start with the quality of the film, and want to see if "Scream" is a particularly good film that can offset Tom Cruise's addition to "Mr. Sweetheart", thereby killing each other at the box office .

If you want to judge the quality of a movie, of course you have to start with the reviews of professional film critics. As the highest-ranked and most famous film critic in the United States, Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" is naturally the first to be noticed. And Roger Ebert's evaluation of "Scream" is very good, with an overall score of three stars (out of four stars):

"Director Wes Craven's greatest contribution is to carve out Billy and Stuart, two serial killers who kill without motive. Billy has a cruel desire to kill due to family reasons, but he chooses to kill at random. object, and for the pleasure of toying with his victims, and Stewart, he may have killed for the fun of it, or he may have just followed Billy."

"One has just a little ridiculous reason, and the other has no reason at all. The reason for killing is ridiculously simple, but so many innocent lives were slaughtered crazily. The twisted perversion of Billy and Stewart in the film is the most severe to human nature. Torture, and the most naked refraction of contemporary society - today's campus culture is extremely impetuous, young people today are empty and confused, lack compassion, are indifferent to and even talk about the murder of their classmates, and can take drugs in pursuit of meaningless stimulation , alcoholism and even crime, the expansion of material desires and the impetuous spirit can only bring destruction, as the sheriff in the small town said in the film, "Maybe I wouldn't believe it 20 years ago, but today's young people, who knows?" .'The existence of these details reflects that the film has a unique practical significance beyond horror."

"In terms of actors, the performances of William Bradley and Drew Barrymore are the best in the whole film, especially William, who played the young and charming middle school student at the beginning of the film. When the identity of the masked killer was revealed, it brought a huge psychological shock to everyone. William Bradley supported the last 10 minutes of the film by himself, adding to the somewhat dull ending of justice over evil. A spooky atmosphere."

"The final score of "Scream" is three and a half stars for William Bradley, three stars for Drew Barrymore, and three stars for the film as a whole."

As the largest newspaper in the United States, AO Scott, the chief film critic of the "New York Times", also praised more than belittled:

"Except for the scary appearance of the masked killer, most of the plots of "Scream" are very sloppy, but there are still quite a few highlights in the film that are worth mentioning. One is the director Wes Craven. The humorous self-deprecating, at the beginning, he used the actor's mouth to complain about his old work "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and in the middle he mocked Tom Cruise's 83 movie "Step by Step" and paused at the appropriate place to see his penis , so that the film is quite funny before the horror comes; the second is that it is very interesting to use the movie rating PG13, NC17 to compare the relationship between male and female friends; the third point is a summary of the killers in most horror movies, such as Blondes must die, non-virgins must die, you must not sleep with others or you must die, you must not drink or take drugs or you must die, etc., and also gives the things that must be done to survive in horror movies: can't answer the phone, don't go out, don't Try to escape, be a virgin - of course, Wes Craven himself finally overturned the rules he summed up, the heroine Xi Ni, who is not a virgin, survived in the end, even if she looks stupid, she will definitely die The very early Randy managed to survive. All in all, this is a movie that is subversive to the traditional horror film model, and there are many points worth watching.”

"Of course, the most commendable thing is William Bradley's crazy performance in the last 10 minutes. He seems to have released his own personality, using a completely different way of performance from the first 80 minutes - including eyes. , movements, and micro-expressions are all converted into killer mode-bringing a visual feast to movie fans. The masked killer Billy played by William is self-confident and crazy enough, especially when he smiles and self-mutilates, he simply puts the character in the The perverted and crazy side is shown vividly, which makes people's hair stand on end."

A week after the premiere, the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Boston Globe, Movie Review, and other film and television entertainment majors Almost all newspapers, magazines, and major national newspapers have published film reviews, most of which are praises, but there are also many criticisms or unpopular comments:

For example, although she is also a film critic of the "New York Times", Manola Daggis said in her column: "A horror film of a very average standard, if the background is not set in the campus, if there is no victim One after another The screaming, people can't help but leave the scene halfway. The most worthy of criticism is that the killer is ridiculously clever in the first half of the film, and he kills whoever he wants, while the heroine Xi Ni and her friends are in desperate need of IQ. Recharge, but at the end, the two killers started to self-mutilate stupidly, and the heroine suddenly became very smart and turned defeat into victory-it was like ending for the end."

The "Baltimore Sun" film critic also said: "It's more like a detective drama than a horror movie. The whole film is full of suspense trying to make everyone fall into a strange situation where everyone looks like a murderer, but no one is a murderer. Audiences who walk into theaters with gore and screams will probably be disappointed."

The film critic of the "Chicago Tribune" said: "To pay tribute to the 80s horror movies, there are too many fragments, and there are too many rigid and frightening bridges set up for surprises, such as the characters' constant 'deception' at the end, which seriously damages the charm of horror. , apart from Drew's screams and William's eyes, it's hard to find other bright spots."

After the premiere week, the score of "Scream" on IDMB was 8.2. A week later, the number of scorers increased sharply, and comments with various scores emerged, and the scores fluctuated back and forth. The overall score finally stabilized at around 7.9, and even Didn't get 8, doesn't it seem to be a particularly good movie?

However, when it comes to the general reputation of "Scream", there are really some professional film critics and ordinary movie fans who think it is particularly brilliant, that is, it does not take long to appear in the movie, but it contributes a special brilliant performance Two actors, Baroo Drimore and William Bradley.

"Drew's 10-minute cameo is the essence of the whole film, she is so beautiful with blonde hair, I almost thought Drew was the heroine!"

"After returning home from the cinema, I think the story is nothing, but when watching it in the cinema, I still feel dizzy, because I am always worried about the sudden appearance of the masked killer, and the director's rhythm is also very tight. They are connected together, especially the performances of Drew and William, which are so cool! The former makes people feel refreshed at the beginning of the film, and the latter is my motivation to persist until the last minute!"

"Drew's cameo, the double-killer truth at the end and the killer's psychopath-like perversion are impressive."

"William's Billy has a dark and gloomy beauty, a neurotic way of acting that's kind of like Johnny Depp, but much crazier."

"Dark green eyes are breathtaking! Billy was instantly killed as soon as he appeared on the stage! PS: Only for actors and not for characters."

When seeing the film reviews of professional film critics such as Roger Ebert, or the film fans who go home online and leave comments on IDMB and other website forums after watching the film, they often mention William Bradley. When it comes to naming names, many people in the Hollywood industry are keenly aware that they seem to have been ignoring important things before?

On the second day, a random interview on the street published by the "Hollywood Reporter" instantly lit up the small light bulbs in the hearts of these industry insiders:

"Why did you choose to watch "Scream" instead of "Mr. Sweetheart"?" When the reporter randomly interviewed two ladies dressed as office workers who were queuing up to buy tickets at the gate of the theater on weekends, one of the ladies said: "Tom K. Ruth is very handsome, but we watched "Mission: Impossible" twice in a row when it was released in the middle of the year, and we were a little tired of his face. I heard that there was no breakthrough in his acting skills, and William Bradley did not. Just as handsome, and my friend said he was super scary and super charming in the movie, it seems like fun to come to the cinema for Christmas and enjoy the screaming pleasure, why not?"

Although this street theater investigation and interview immediately appeared on the "Hollywood Report" box office survey of this week in a page the size of a tofu cube, it was very small and inconspicuous, but "Hollywood Report" is after all the same as "Hollywood Report" Variety Show is also known as the two major periodicals of the American entertainment industry. Almost everyone in Hollywood has one copy, so quite a few interested people have noticed this news. Although the news is small and tofu, it caused waves in the hearts of these people. But it is huge, people with a keen sense of smell, immediately captured more information from this short text:

Some of the fandoms of William Bradley and Tom Cruise overlap?No, or that William Bradley stole part of Tom Cruise's box office? !

Perhaps it is a bit alarmist to directly define it like this, but people who think this way are not completely unreasonable: there are many types of movie fans, elderly, middle-aged and teenagers, high-skilled and non-high-skilled, middle-class and below-middle-class of class.Targeted moviegoing groups can be divided into very fine and small categories, but generally speaking, movie fans can generally be summarized into two types: more rational and more fanatical. Cult movies, brain-burning movies, and art movies tend to give birth to the former, while handsome movies, romantic love movies, and individual heroism movies tend to give birth to the latter.

Although Tom Cruise became famous by his face, in fact, most of his movie fans are office workers with work income and social experience. Fanatical housewives or teenagers only occupy a small proportion of them. In the final analysis , because Tom Cruise’s choice of films is not so superficial and popular. "The Color of Money", "Rain Man", and "Born on the Fourth of July" were all picked up to please the Oscar judges. "Night Interview" The slant of the sword in "Vampire" also confirms Cruise's eagerness to break through his acting skills, and even "Top Gun", which made Tom Cruise a hit, is not simply a handsome film. Although the film was joked by film critics as a recruitment advertisement for the U.S. Navy, there is no shortage of artistic and commercial degrees.

Even if Tom Cruise had absorbed a large number of teenage fans with "Top Gun" in 86, ten years later, those teenage fans have grown into the backbone of society. Tom Cruise's fans are big Some of them belong to the earning group, which is the biggest reason why he can become a box office guarantee. In 95, a publication conducted a survey, which wrote: "Women who have a stable income and a good working life are especially fond of office workers. Tom Cruise, although they will not shout Cruise's name enthusiastically at the premiere, nor will they vent their love frantically on the Internet, but they have always been the backbone of the film's box office Power. But among the group of housewives who have always paid attention to star fame and word-of-mouth, because of too many scandals about broken marriages in recent years, Tom Cruise's popularity is declining year by year."

Even in the United States, where National Entertainment loves movies, not every office worker will go to the cinema to watch movies every weekend, and there are also very few office workers who go to the cinema twice a week-compared to the leisure way of watching movies. Office workers obviously prefer party bars when they encounter weekends—that is, when two movies are released at the same time in a week, they choose this one, and they probably won’t go to see the other one.

Now, the audience of "Mr. Sweetheart" has not changed much, but more and more people choose to go to the theater to watch "Scream" on weekends. Cruise fan?

No, people in the Hollywood industry have never thought of it so far. After all, William is far behind Tom Cruise in terms of fame and status. He is not in the same position at all. Even Tom Cruise himself, I am afraid They don't think that William is qualified to challenge him. What they think is a more practical question, that is——

Those fans who have a fixed taste preference for favorite actors (such as handsome face and handsome face) and strong purchasing power, but have turned Tom Cruise fans to passers-by or fans to black fans, there may already be quite a few of them To William Bradley, a little eagle who just took off?