"In the final days of the Oscar campaign, before the final ballots are filled out and mailed in, several rumors are circulating in Hollywood claiming that Kevin Costner isn't the only director to direct 'Dances with Wolves.' Costner's senior
My friend Ronald Lee actually directed some of the best scenes in the movie."
After the Los Angeles Times film reviewers finished commenting on this year's major awards, two reports began to talk about other stories surrounding the awards.
The first one is about the gossip that Ronald is Costner's replacement. However, the Los Angeles Times is a major newspaper, so he started from the perspective of analyzing that this gossip is not true. Why is such a rumor circulating? In fact, it is still
Makes sense:
First of all, Ronald and Costner have known each other for a long time. Costner had previously worked on Ronald's film "Night of the Comet", the first film to be released.
Secondly, Ronald visited the filming set several times during the filming of "Dances with Wolves". A series of people close to the creator said that in fact, Ronald directed certain major scenes in the movie.
cylinder.
However, this rumor is not credible. All the crew members interviewed said that Ronald did not do any directing work. And the Directors Guild will not let such a thing happen, let alone Ronald not directing, even if he directed
He shot many scenes, and if he shot no more than two-thirds of the entire film, Costner would be credited as the director, not him.
The purpose of this newspaper repeating this groundless rumor is to tell readers how unscrupulous they will do to attack the leader in the competition for this award, which is not the most authoritative in terms of artistry...
Last year, Oliver Stone's critics managed to link Stone to the unpopular political ambitions of "Born on the Fourth of July" author Kovich, which may have changed the outcome of the Oscars.
In the end, Stone won the best director award, but his bitingly satirical, anti-Vietnam War film lost out to the uplifting and politically correct "Driving Miss Daisy."
…
The Los Angeles Times is a serious media, but its film review column is also very professional because it is located in the city where Hollywood is located.
Ronald read this report several times, and finally he discovered a clue. The suspect actually had to be found among the other nominees for several awards for which Kevin Costner was nominated.
Ronald was an acquaintance of Penny Marshall, the director of "The Greatest Hits" who was nominated for Best Picture and Best Actor. He immediately called her. After listening to Ronald's analysis, Penny laughed.
He also said that because he was not Jewish, he was not even nominated for Best Director.
However, she confirmed that during the awards competition stage, someone did come to public relations and proactively provided attack ammunition to target other nominated films.
The one with the greatest suspicion is the movie "The Debt of a Rich Family" that won the Best Actor Award and was also nominated for Best Director.
This is a small-budget production directed by a French director, starring a British actor, and distributed by Warner Brothers. The domestic box office is also average. Therefore, winning the award will be of great benefit to all parties involved.
Dances with Wolves is the favorite to win this time, so there are many public relations points and competitive tactics used by others to attack Dances with Wolves. It is really eye-opening.
In fact, compared with movie box office announcements, the methods of award evaluation are not simple. It is not that investing some money can increase the possibility of winning awards.
This time I only paid for it, and I was able to watch the various prize competition methods at close range throughout the whole process. It was a very rare opportunity.
The key points here are to break through two key points. The first is that when nominating, the film must have enough technical breakthroughs to satisfy the Directors Guild and critics. Otherwise, it will be like Penny Marshall and her ghost relationship.
If it’s not over, you won’t be able to pass the nomination contest.
The second is that when competing for awards, the members of the Screen Actors Guild must be satisfied. This group of talents is the key to determining the final award. The decisive factors in the previous nomination battle are completely irrelevant at this level. The tastes of the actors and judges are still biased.
Stories about the largest number of white people, and stories that align with American values.
This is a bit like a general election. If you talk a lot about things that the voters in your party like to hear, then the probability of passing the primary election will be higher. But if you still talk about these things in the finals, then win over the majority of people.
On the contrary, they are not as good as those candidates whose positions on those topics are biased toward ordinary people.
Fortunately, in the interview after the award ceremony, he denied such claims. Otherwise, it would be troublesome for Costner to have a conflict with himself.
Ronald specifically hung up the phone to Costner, who was still in the joy of winning the award and laughed it off. He also rushed to go on vacation with his wife Cindy.
The second report from the Los Angeles Times reported that Scorsese had failed miserably again. Even the title was very sad: "Everyone loves Martin Scorsese, except for the Oscars..."
"There are a lot of reports complaining about you here." Ronald entertained Scorsese at his home. He pointed to the reports in the newspapers that said only "good guys" should win awards.
"Why……"
Martin Scorsese has been in a bad mood these past two days. In fact, he has already had three chances to win the award. In addition to Raging Bull, there is also "Taxi Driver" with Jodie Foster. But that
Due to the film's violence, he was not even nominated for Best Director. The film also received no other four nominations.
Earlier, his first commercially successful film "It's Hard to Make Water" made the actress Ellen Bernstine famous, but his directorial work was not recognized.
"You don't know, I received Ellen Bernstine's trophy on her behalf." Scorsese was in such a bad mood that he even revealed the past events from many years ago.
At that time, Bernstine didn't think she could win the award, so she was still acting in stage plays on Broadway. The performance contract she signed at the time had an Oscar clause. If she was nominated, she could take leave to attend the awards show in Los Angeles.
But she didn't ask for leave. She just said that if she was lucky enough to win the award, she would ask Scorsese to accept it on her behalf. This was obviously a lack of confidence in herself. Who would have thought that Scorsese would be in such a situation when he went on stage to win a statuette for the first time. He
He also thanked himself on stage on behalf of Bernstine...
Chatting with Scorsese about these Oscar past events, Ronald became more certain about his research results on Oscar competition.
Taxi Driver was not nominated because it was not well received by fellow directors (the story is rather anti-social...). If it had been nominated, this kind of story would be more popular with actors. After all, he portrayed Sybil Shepard
Such a beautiful shot with Jodie Foster...
Raging Bull is the opposite. There is no doubt about the nomination, but the actors don't like it. There is not even a good-looking female character... and less than half of the actors who have the right to vote are women.
"I'm going to the bathroom." Scorsese and Ronald chatted a lot, and their mood improved a little.
"Just over there in the aisle." Ronald showed a funny smile, and he arranged a little joke for Scorsese.
"Do you think winning this award depends on luck?" Diane said.
If Dances with Wolves hadn't happened this year, or if another film had been nominated ten years ago, Scorsese would have been very likely to win.
"It's hard to say, it does have something to do with luck. However, what may be more critical is the technique of winning the prize."
Scorsese stayed in the bathroom for several minutes. When he came out and returned to the living room, both Ronald and Diane looked at him, trying not to laugh.
"Damn...you kid, did you arrange it on purpose?" Scorsese couldn't hold it in anymore and laughed loudly.
Ronald put the statuette he got yesterday on the bathroom sink. It was impossible for everyone to miss it when they were washing their hands.
For an industry insider who has never won an award, how can he resist the desire to pick up the statuette and give an acceptance speech in front of the mirror?
Sure enough, Scorsese couldn't escape. He took the statuette and rehearsed all the acceptance speeches he prepared in front of the mirror when he failed to win the award the past two times.
When he returned to the living room, he realized what he had done. After such a long time, he would have betrayed what he had done.
However, just such laughter relieved a lot of pressure in his heart. Putting it in the bathroom is also a good metaphor. Winning an award does not mean anything, it is just an award. The real recognition comes from the market and the industry
Given by a colleague.
"You can rest for a while, and I will explain it to them about the Coca-Cola commercial." Ronald took the initiative to mention the commercial that Scorsese still owed.
"No need, you made me very happy today. I will be able to direct it soon." Scorsese smiled. The commercial was actually just a gimmick. He could finish it in half a day. He just had no intention of creating it some time ago because he was competing for awards.
.
"Okay, I'll coordinate the time with them..."
"Bye-Bye……"
Scorsese said goodbye and left. Ronald immediately rushed into the bathroom and picked up the statuette. This gold-plated trophy was very heavy and required electricity to hold it, so it had a lot of fingerprints on it, and fingerprints were everywhere.
There's still some water stains on it...
"Hey, it's true...I spent a lot of money just to cheer you up..." Ronald took out a piece of suede, breathed on the head of the little golden man, and then slowly began to wipe the fingerprints and fingerprints on it.
trace.
"Dances with Wolves" box office rises...
The weekend before the awards show, due to the popularity of the Oscars and multiple nominations, the audience suddenly became interested in this western film.
The box office statistics for this weekend have come out and were placed on the table in front of Ronald. It has increased by more than 40% compared to last week. It has returned to the top five in the box office list.
In the 20 weeks since its release, this movie has accumulated a domestic box office of 130 million, and with the overseas screenings about to begin, it is expected to have a good harvest.
The best thing is that when it was screened overseas, the movie happened to win six Oscars, and won the most important awards for Best Picture and Best Director.
The highlight of the overseas box office is Europe and East Asia. The audiences in these two places have a similar characteristic, that is, their preferences for movies between the masses and elites are not as polarized as Hollywood.
Many times, European audiences will go to movie viewing parties and listen to experts explain the content of the movie. They will also go to professional film review magazines like Manual du Cinema to try to accept the opinions of the elites. In Japan, there is also something like the "Film Weekly"
magazine.
On the other hand, in mainland China, the situation there is somewhat similar to that in America. The popular movies with the largest sales and the most popularity are completely catered to the tastes of the mass audience. Sometimes, these two countries, because of their large size and vast territory,
People, many markets have similar phenomena.
…
Another week passed and Ronald reunited with Kevin Costner.
"Hahaha, it has been rising for two consecutive weeks."
Kevin Costner and his wife returned from vacation in Palm Springs and came to Ronald again to talk with him about overseas distribution.
The star is still in a state of ecstasy. The Oscar has brought "Dances with Wolves" not only honor and recognition, but also real money.
The award brought a wave of repeat audiences, and there are also many new viewers who only heard about this strangely named movie because of the Oscars and went to the cinema to watch this western film for the first time.
This weekend, based on last weekend's box office, it increased by 45%, with more than 5.4 million in box office revenue. This box office figure has returned to the box office level in December last year, which was the fifth week of release.
In terms of ranking, the movie has also returned to third place. This is the longest time in the past many years for a movie to fall out of the top three at the box office and then return to the top three after a longest interval of fifteen weeks in total.
The film's domestic box office has already reached close to 150 million, and preparations are underway for its premiere in Britain and other places.
In second place is another movie that Ronald invested and served as a producer, "The Silence of the Lambs". Anthony Hopkins's ugly face stayed at the top of the box office for five weeks.
, finally dropped to second place.
The number one box office hit this week is the sequel to the unexpected success "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" by Hong Kong-based Golden Harvest. Released exactly a year ago, the four teenage turtles wearing hoods sold 200 million yuan. This made Golden Harvest overjoyed.
I immediately took out Xiangjiang Speed and rushed to shoot the second part.
However, their production costs are not as stable as those of Xiangjiang Production. The rules of Hollywood are that if you want to make a sequel, your salary must be increased. Golden Harvest's production costs have doubled, reaching 30 million US dollars.
Even if all four actors wear balaclavas and do not show their faces throughout the movie, the Screen Actors Guild can still guarantee that they will not be replaced. As long as the second sequel uses their images after makeup, even if they are not used, they still have to pay
Their expensive licensing fees make it more cost-effective for Jiahe to hire them back for a salary increase.
This is all the result of the lawsuit caused by replacing the actor Crispin Glover who played Marty's father in the second part of "Back to the Future". In the second part, his role was changed and he appeared.
He didn't have much time, and he was still wearing a hood and standing on his head. Crispin Glover was so angry that he sued the film studio.
The crew of Back to the Future all believed that this case could not be lost because the image of Crispin Glover did not appear in the second film. Who could tell whether it was Crispin Glover wearing an old man's hood?
?
But the judge's decision disappointed them. The judge believed that the image of Crispin Glover in the first film had become a character image. No matter how he changed it in the second film, the character was still called George McFly.
Crispin Glover won the lawsuit, making this case a common practice in Hollywood. Characters who wear hoods also have the right to assert their own character image. The producers cannot simply replace them, they must give priority to them.
They come to negotiate.
Ronald and Costner were drinking whiskey and Italian salami, and they were very comfortable. Costner also wanted to look for the mysterious Chinese wine he drank last time, thinking that it brought him good
transport.
Ronald was reluctant to take out the remaining bottle of old Moutai to drink, so he opened a new bottle bought in a Chinese supermarket. The packaging was not a five-star trademark, but a new image of a flying dancing girl.
"By the way, Ronald, I have an idea..."
After three drinks, Costner suddenly said to Ronald.
"I want to add the parts that were cut out in the version released in America."
"Isn't this version very good? It even won an Oscar." Ronald disagreed. The film has a loose structure and was cut into the current version of less than three hours. In fact, it is between showing the Indian scenery and culture and the plot narrative.
a balance?
"But there are still many good scenes. This time we won an Oscar, so the audience will definitely not be afraid of it being too long."
"But..." Ronald originally wanted to convince Costner from the perspective of editing technology and director's aesthetics, but looking at the other person's confident eyes and a smile on his lips, he suddenly thought of the key to the problem.
As soon as Ronald said the words, he changed his mind again. Costner is the Oscar for Best Director, but I haven't won it yet? Why teach?
"You have a new idea? Give it a try. You can try it at the British screening and see how the audience reacts."