"The ending of "The Truman Show" is perfect at first glance. Truman finally broke the cage set for him by the producer, walked out of the huge studio on Taoyuan Island, and came to the real world, with countless viewers in front of the TV.
They were all crying and excited for his success, as if they too were Truman and felt the joy of gaining true freedom for the first time in their lives.
But is this the real ending? No, one second, the whole world was still cheering for Truman to be free, but the next second, after "The Truman Show" was completely suspended, what happened to two security guards
The conversation between them was "What other programs can I watch next?" Then everything turned dark.
These two sentences of dialogue were like pouring cold water on my head, making me feel cold all over. "The Truman Show" used the last five seconds of dialogue to subvert a seemingly perfect ending. Chinese director Li
Qian is satirizing from the first second to the last second of the movie, satirizing the commercialism, consumerism and entertainment to death in today's media world.
Through the audience who have been paying attention to Truman in the movie, it satirizes the dark voyeurism in the human heart. The audience in "The Truman Show" seemed to care and support Truman, but when Truman left Taoyuan Island, the program
After the broadcast was stopped, what I was most concerned about was: What program will I watch next? Concern is a disguise, an assumption made to satisfy my own voyeuristic desire."
...
It is now noon on the 12th, and Li Qian brought the four leading actors, Tong Liya, Deng Chao, Wang Ou, and Zhang Wei, to Milijian, preparing to attend the Milijian TV and Movie Golden Globe Award Ceremony tomorrow evening.
I came a day early, so I was so jet-lagged.
Li Qian is reading newspapers now, and all he is reading are newspapers from the "New York Times", "Los Angeles Times", "Variety", and "Hollywood Report" half a month ago.
The readership of these newspapers highly overlaps with that of the Oscar judges. Their readers are middle-aged white people.
These media are also the main battlefield for Oscar public relations.
Five years ago, "Wall-E" spent $700,000 on advertising in the "New York Times" alone, and that was just one media outlet.
"The Truman Show" has received pretty good reviews on these media during this period, and it also has very good reviews on two mainstream websites, Rotten Tomatoes and IMBD.
The Rotten Tomatoes index is 91%, which means that out of every 100 reviews, 91 are positive.
The IMBD score is also as high as 8.0 points.
Even though the score of 8.0 is not high, compared to Douban's score of 9.3, it is much worse, but this score is definitely a score that can only be found in classic movies.
For example, the first part of "Transformers" only scored 7.1, while the classic movie "Springtime of the Cowherd" only scored 7.9, and Li Bian's "Life of Pi" also scored 7.9.
"Titanic" scored 7.8. When it was first released, it only had a score of 7. However, it has increased by 0.8 points in the past ten years.
The ratings and Rotten Tomatoes index are very high, but the box office is mediocre.
It grossed 13 million US dollars in its first weekend, and more than a month after its release, the total box office was only 36 million US dollars.
Two hundred million yuan may seem like a lot, but for a movie to be screened in mainstream theaters on a large scale, this is a huge blow.
This box office performance is not surprising to Li Qian. There are too few Mi Lijian people who would watch a Chinese-language comedy-drama movie. It is about the same as domestic audiences watching Indo movies.
Fortunately, since this group of viewers choose to watch Chinese-language movies, there will not be too strong discrimination, so the ratings are quite high.
"Did the copyright of this movie be sold to Warner, or was it divided into shares?" Deng Chao asked.
"Shared, if it wasn't for the Olympics, I would just buy it out."
Tong Liya said with some pain, "It's 36 million U.S. dollars, so Warner will have to take more than half of it, and there won't be much left."
"Now the situation is like this. Warner has advanced 6 million US dollars for promotion, and then divided the distribution into 36 million US dollars, leaving only 6 or 7 million US dollars."
"So cruel?"
Li Qian shook his head, "It's not surprising. This is how Hollywood distributors work. Besides, the domestic share of imported films is about the same."
"With a box office of 36 million, I can only get a fraction of it."
Although it was not his own money, Deng Chao also felt a twinge of pain.
Tong Liya also felt distressed, "No wonder they say that Hollywood distributors are vampires. Everyone will lose money, but the distributors will not."
The same goes for Wang Ou and Zhang Wei. Although they have become famous after starring in "The Truman Show" and have constant acting appointments, hundreds of millions of dollars are still a big sum for them.
"Actually, the main thing is after the Oscars. If you can win the award, it will bring in at least more than 10 million in box office. It is no problem to break through 50 million. DVD, online on-demand, and TV on-demand are also big players. Of course, the premise is that you can win the award.
.”
"I don't know if I can gain anything this time."
Tong Liya, Deng Chao and others are all looking forward to it. After all, it is an Oscar. If the movie she starred in won the Oscar, that is definitely the most glorious thing on her resume.
We didn’t chat much. Although we slept on the plane, I was still a little uncomfortable with the time difference of more than ten hours.
I rested for a while during the day, attended a dinner hosted by Warner Bros. in the evening, and then continued to rest the next day.
...
At 6 pm local time, which is 7 am in China, there were still two hours before the awards ceremony. Li Qian and others changed their clothes and started to prepare.
Li Qian smiled and said, "You are all ready. The Golden Globe Awards are broadcast live around the world."
"Isn't it just walking on the red carpet? Some people often go to the red carpet and it's okay." Tong Liya said not taking it seriously, but she was still a little nervous.
"As a grown man, I don't pay that much attention." Deng Chao said with a smile.
"Me too." Zhang Wei agreed.
"Ready." Wang Ou said with excitement.
"Calm down, no one in Hollywood knows us anyway."
After saying that, Li Qian led everyone out of the hotel and got into the car prepared by Warner.
The awards ceremony was held at the Beverly Hills Hotel. In fact, the whole process was not much different from other awards ceremonies.
Walking on the red carpet is also a must.
This is a technical job, especially for female celebrities, to find a suitable place and pose, so that the media can take beautiful photos from the most suitable angle.
However, compared to those celebrities on the red carpet, Li Qian is much more casual.
His goal is not to be on the red carpet. Taking all the beautiful photos will be of no use if he doesn’t get an award.
Warner Vice President of Distribution Thomas is still working with Li Qian. In fact, as the North American distributor, he is also a part of the crew.
The vice president of Warner, who has no connections whatsoever, also found several reporters to take photos and interview Li Qian and the others alone.
Li Qian originally didn't want to take so many photos, but Tong Liya was attending the Golden Globe Awards for the first time and was quite interested. She dragged Li Qian and kept taking photos there.
Deng Chao was also held by Wang Ou and frantically allowed the media to take photos.
They were all found and paid by Warner, and the photographer was not stingy and clicked hard.
Only Zhang Wei was alone. When facing the camera, it was awkward to shoot and he didn't know what posture to pose.
"I must play the leading role next time!"
Zhang Wei sat there with a constipated look on his face, thinking to himself that at least the protagonist could have a female companion, unlike himself who was so unlucky that he was alone.
After walking through the red carpet and arriving at the hotel, Thomas told Li Qian some good news.
"The Truman Show has great hopes of winning the Golden Globe. As you know, the Golden Globe is more entertainment-oriented than the serious Oscars."
Li Qian nodded. Anyone who cares about Hollywood knows that the authority of the Golden Globe Awards is getting lower and lower, but following the audience's path has made the Golden Globe Awards more and more influential and its ratings are getting higher and higher.
.
Since it is more entertainment-oriented, "The Truman Show" has great advantages over the other four movies.
In the hotel, Li Qian also met many big stars and directors, including Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino, who are relatively familiar to domestic audiences.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Nicole Kidman... these stars are also instantly recognizable.
After Thomas' introduction, Li Qian also said hello one by one, and that was it.
Someone who had watched "The Truman Show" chatted a few more words.
Spielberg instead talked about Li Qian's other movie "Jaws", especially the first one. He praised Li Qian and talked about the similarities between "Jaws" and "Jurassic Park".
movie of.
I also met Li Bian at the scene. "Life of Pi" was nominated for two awards: Best Feature Film and Best Director.
He is a senior and an international director, so of course Li Qian took the initiative to say hello.
"Director Li, hello."
"Hello, Director Li." Li Bian smiled and extended his hand to Li Qian.
Li Qian couldn't help but laugh. They had the same last name and the same occupation, but it sounded so strange to greet each other.
"I wish Director Li the best to win the best feature film and the best director. The movie "Pi" is a masterpiece, and the best director Oscar is also within easy reach. He has won the best director Oscar twice. Looking around the world, no one has
How many people can do it?"
"It's still early for the Oscars, and Director Li is here to praise me." Li Bian smiled, "I also hope that Director Li can win a statuette for the mainland. It's a pity that "The Truman Show" can't participate in the selection of individual awards, otherwise it would be regarded as a comedy.
There’s a lot to be done.”
"I'd like to borrow some good words from Director Li."
It was also the first time that the two met. They said hello, wished each other well, and just chatted for a few words.
...
At eight o'clock in the evening and nine o'clock in the morning Beijing time, the Golden Globe Awards ceremony officially began.
For Li Qian, this has been a long process.
However, I did see the difference between Hollywood and China. The two female hosts, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, both comedians, did not wear high heels when they appeared, but wore red and green sneakers.
The first award was for Best Supporting Actor, which went to Christopher Waltz for "Django Unchained". DiCaprio, who was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor in this movie, lost to his own man.
What’s funny is that when the results were announced, several cameras were clearly pointed at DiCaprio, and many people at the scene looked at him unconsciously.
Li Qian doesn't recognize many other people and movies, and sitting here is almost like a soy sauce.
Fortunately, the Golden Globe Awards feature a banquet-style setting. Everyone sits around a circular dining table, where they can sip champagne and eat pastries while watching the awards being presented one after another.
The bored crowd was just like watching a play, eating, drinking, and looking at the stage.
The two girls still maintained their etiquette, with Deng Chao occasionally drinking a glass of champagne, while Zhang Wei stared at the stage and stuffed something into his mouth from time to time.
"Zhang Wei, can you be a bit ambitious? This is a live broadcast. Don't be like Monk Wei in "Bright Sword"." Li Qian laughed and cursed.
Zhang Wei smiled faintly, stopped his hand, and swallowed the food in his mouth heavily, "I'm a little bored, and I happen to be hungry."
Tong Liya said angrily to Zhang Wei, "Who told you not to eat at noon?"
Zhang Wei hurriedly said, "I'm not nervous. It's my first time at an occasion like the Golden Globe Awards, and I set off at six o'clock. The ceremony won't end until 11 o'clock in the evening. I was afraid that I would have to go to the toilet in the middle and couldn't hold it in, so I didn't dare to eat."
lunch."
"...Eat, it's a banquet anyway, just come here to eat. Don't be hungry. Just be gentle. It doesn't matter if there are foreigners here and no one knows you. But there are cameras broadcasting live all over the world. Just let the domestic audience see it.
I’m going to laugh at you.”
"Ah..." Zhang Wei looked around, but still didn't continue eating. He was almost full anyway.
In fact, there were quite a few people eating at the scene. After all, the female hosts all wore sneakers. If they were in China, they would probably be trolled to death.
When foreigners eat at award ceremonies, they can be said to be frank and casual. If it were a Chinese, they might be scolded as uneducated.
However, an hour has passed now, and it should be 10 a.m. in China. Everyone is working and going to school at this time, so no one should be watching the live broadcast.
Li Qian thought and glanced at the camera. One of the several cameras seemed to be pointed at him.
Sure enough, Stallone took the stage next and presented the award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Stallone read out the five nominated movies including "The Truman Show" and "Love" and began to introduce them one by one.
.....
At this time, across the ocean, many people in China were waiting in front of their computers, watching the live broadcast.
Tengxun won the domestic online broadcast rights of the Golden Globe Awards. At this time, there were many comments floating on the screen.
"Come on, come on, it's the best foreign language film."
"Let's see, it's Stallone who is presenting the award. Doesn't that mean that "The Truman Show" is stable!"
"Why do you say that?"
"Stallone is one of the most familiar Hollywood stars in China. If we find an actor we are familiar with to award the award, wouldn't it be an award to a Chinese-language film?"
"...These can all be tied together."
"Stop making noise, stop making noise, I can hardly hear you."
"Truman! Truman!"
"Come on Li Qian!"
"Hurry up, don't introduce those street movies!"
"Truman!"
"Truman!"
"Truman!"
It's about to be revealed, and the bullet screens are all about Truman.
After Stallone introduced them one by one, chatted a few words, and made the official announcement.
"A set of meaningless shots combined with music will create emotions. When should you be moved and when should you be angry? In fact, you don't need to follow the plot, listening to the music is enough.
Use close-ups to shift the focus. In poor TV, before the phone rings, there will always be a close-up of the phone. The conversation between two people, one far away and one close, must also have a shift in focus, so that people can figure out what is going on even if they are distracted.
Who is talking? Watching TV can easily deprive people of their IQ.
Why do you believe that 9 Yaoyao is real? When you first heard the news, you must have been shocked at first and then doubted its authenticity. But as more and more media reported this incident, it continued to be broadcast on TV
The footage of the moment of impact and photos of the impact from all angles have been published in major newspapers and magazines. You may still be shocked, but you must be convinced.
Why do you think the September 11 incident is important? It was reported, the BBC reported it, NBC reported it, the New York Times published it, the Times published it, and everyone around you is saying that the Twin Towers fell.
The channels for everyone to receive information come from their surroundings, as well as newspapers and the Internet. But have you ever thought that one day, the people around you are all lying to you? They are all actors, and TV news and online news are all compiled by others.
of.
Even the city you live in, the sky above your head, the sun, and the moon are all fake, so what is real?
Today, the film that won the 70th Millennium Film and Television Golden Globe Award tells such a story, so it is..."
Stallone, a tough guy, also said so much at this time, and even made a fuss about it, dragging out his words for a long time.
But at this point, everyone knows which movie it is.
The audience in front of Tengxun Video also understood, but at this time they were holding their breath and waiting for him to say those few words, without scrolling through the barrage.
The tough guy didn't show off too much. He paused, then smiled and shouted in Li Qian's direction, "Congratulations to China for "The Truman Show"!"