Chapter 104

Paramount, now the only major Hollywood production company that still stands firmly in the region, in 1993, as a representative of traditional Hollywood companies and independent studios, Paramount finally fell into Viacom Under the group's Jinyuan offensive, this also marked the complete end of the Hollywood independent film era, and the film industry has since ushered in the era of real giant competition.

But Paramount Pictures, which has just received the support of Viacom, a huge media group, has not been smooth for some time.

First, because of the acquisition case, many of its film projects, including "Forrest Gump", had to be temporarily suspended; finally, it was difficult to wait until the project could start, and "Forrest Gump", which was planned for several years, was also due to adaptation issues. The original author Winston Grumman had a dispute, and the two sides almost went to court; after everything subsided and the crew was fully on track, a fire broke out on the set inexplicably, and a lot of work of the crew had to be restarted...

Also, when the project was approved in the first half of the year, it was announced that it will be released in North America in early July next year. Who knows that there will be an "Independence Day" after it. It is said that the release date has always been on the Independence Day holiday and Memorial Day. After swinging between, Paramount chose to wait and see for the time being. A few days ago, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox finally announced the release date of "Independence Day"-Independence Day holiday!

This is very close to the release time of Forrest Gump, and the two sides are bound to have fierce competition.

"Wendy, what do you think?"

Sitting behind the desk, Paramount's new CEO Shelly Lansing looked at the producer of Forrest Gump, "Does Forrest Gump have the strength to directly compete with Independence Day?"

"Shellie, you should know the director Duke Rosenberg."

As a famous Hollywood producer, Wendy Feinerman seems to be full of worries. "In my opinion, Duke is simply born for the summer vacation. Independence Day is a popular science fiction action film. From his It can be guessed in the first two films that the chance of him failing is extremely small, and "Forrest Gump" is naturally at a disadvantage in terms of investment and genre."

"Jonathan, what's your opinion?" Shelley Lansing asked Paramount's executive director.

"I suggest not to collide with that saboteur film directly in the summer." Jonathan Dugan said directly, "Forrest Gump has a reader base, and Tom Hanks also has a certain box office appeal. , But don't forget "Interview with the Vampire" and Tom Cruise. To be precise, their themes have an advantage over "Forrest Gump", but they are in a match with "Brave to Death Island". Lost."

What film is best for summer vacation? None of you here are outsiders. From the subject matter, the popcorn movie produced by Duke Rosenberg can be said to be a typical summer movie.

"The official promotion of "Forrest Gump" has not yet begun." Shelly Lansing asked for comments, "It is too late to adjust the release date..."

Hollywood doesn't have too many secrets. The news that Paramount Pictures had advanced the release date of "Forrest Gump" by a month soon reached Duke's ears. He was slightly surprised, and then he was relieved.

The situation is obvious. Paramount Pictures wants to avoid "Independence Day". This is the reason for Duke's astonishment. After all, "Forrest Gump" can sweep the North American works, and relieved to remove the power of the same period. In addition to competitors, I also want to understand why.

He knew that "Forrest Gump" had swept across North America, but Paramount and the investors of "Forrest Gump" did not know that although this film had a distinct nostalgic theme, it was compared to "Independence Day". This is a typical summer popcorn. The subject matter is obviously not dominant. In addition, there are investment quotas and the attention of the audience and the media, which can be said to be much worse.

The important thing is that he has proved his competitiveness in the past two summer files. "Life and Death" faced the series of superior projects "Alien 3", not only succeeded in overtaking the box office, but also won the box office for two weeks. The champion.

In "Break into Death Island", the opponents changed to more powerful "Interview with the Vampire" and Tom Cruise, but they still won the competition, not only grabbing the throne of the weekly box office leaderboard, but also suppressing it. Stallone's "The Great Wind", once again won two consecutive championships in North America.

Paramount will not ignore these factors, even if the film has Tom Hanks, the new Oscar actor, to join.

What's more, the relative failure of "Interview with the Vampire" has also made many filmmakers more soberly aware of the importance of the theme for the summer archive.

Of course, not every film company believes that only popcorn movies are suitable for summer vacation. Although Paramount's "Forrest Gump" chose to back down, the vacant weekend schedule has allowed other companies to see it. Taking this opportunity, a prison-themed film produced by Castle Rock Pictures and released by Columbia Pictures immediately cleverly occupied the original schedule of Forrest Gump.

This time shift can be said to be a kind of alternative competition in Hollywood, and it is also a smart choice made by many films that think they are weak.

However, none of this affects Duke. The preparations for the film finally come to an end before Christmas. After returning to Santa Monica to spend the Christmas holiday with his mother, the filming is no longer just around stunts and explosions. The actors have also continued. Join it.

"Stan, are you ready?"

Through a layer of glass, Duke asked Stan Winston next to him, "It's not just two hands, I want all the alien tentacles to move."

"Don't worry." Stan Winston gave Duke a thumbs up.

Duke nodded and shouted behind him, "John, get ready!"

John Schwarzman personally controls a camera, and Ben Watts sets up the Steadicam to move and shoot at the right angle.

"Start!"

Through a layer of glass, Duke made a gesture to the person in the isolation room and stepped back into the distance.

Mr. President, who had chosen a position a long time ago, and several soldiers walked over immediately. One of them also checked the situation of the glass wall. Suddenly, a scientist whose neck was tightened by his tentacles was tightly attached to the glass, looking extremely frightened... …

Standing next to John Schwarzman, Duke watched the performance of these actors. Frankly speaking, except for Bill Pullman, who played the president, everyone else showed signs of overstrength to varying degrees, with slightly more expressions. Exaggerated, but he didn't mean to stop. For this film, the acting requirement is above the level. If this group of people are unqualified, the current Will Smith can be dismissed directly.

The filming ended when the glass curtain wall shattered. Duke checked the results and nodded through.

The aliens here all use models to shoot, and the waving tentacles come from the mechanical operation of a special effects artist. The two alien hands holding the scientist are just two prop hands, which are controlled by the arm of another prop master. .

Except for the line of aliens in the last outer space battleship generated by cgi, the other aliens are all shot using models. Stan Winston led the industrial light and magic special effects team to produce models, just like Scarlett. What Johnson said is enough to disguise the truth.

A few more shots about aliens were taken. Duke led the crew to transition. The scene here has already been set up. Will Smith and Jeff Golumb sit inside the alien spacecraft, familiarizing themselves with the environment and rehearsing. The next scene.

"Jeff, and Will."

Standing in front of the two guys, Duke said as concisely as possible, "You see hope from the predicament, and the excitement is more nervous. Don't forget that there are not only chasing soldiers behind, but also nuclear bombs that will explode at any time."

For Jeff Golumb, Duke is more at ease. Although this has limited acting skills, he has appeared in many films and has rich experience. However, Will Smith is difficult. Since he joined the filming, even It is Duke who has very loose requirements for actors, and his average number of ng shots per shot is close to double digits.

The same is true this time. When the filming just started, the alien spacecraft Park shook, and the nervous expression on the face of the future superstar whose acting skills would continue to be worse turned into an almost exaggerated roar.

"Cut!"

After yelling to stop, Duke avoided the cables on the ground, walked into the spacecraft, and looked at Will Smith, who looked apologetic after making a mistake, and finally suppressed his anger. Losing his temper would only increase Smith's pressure, since Choosing to enable him should also have sufficient psychological preparation.

"Will!" Duke said seriously, "Remember, you are now an actor, not a hip-hop singer. If you still have this kind of hip-hop expression in the next shoot, I will send you to the studio. On top, let you sing r&b all day on it!"

"You just need to be excited and nervous! Think about your first performance on stage! Don't tell me, then you will be able to handle it easily."

Although you can give some guidance, you can also use the camera position and the angle of the camera to appropriately improve Will Smith's performance in the shot, but Duke is only a director, not a director with a super halo.

The crew's time and energy are limited. If Will Smith continues to be bad, Duke intends to only give him back shots. Fortunately, in the subsequent shooting, Will Smith's performance is slightly better. Although the progress is limited, it is also After ng three times, the shooting ended smoothly.

Perhaps it is due to the relatively loose relationship between Duke's requirements, or the running-in of "Break into Death Island". The backbone team cooperates more tacitly. In addition, Duke has made great progress after shooting two consecutive films. The filming of a film that relies more on special effects rather than performances by actors, went very smoothly.

It was fleeting in 1993 and then in 1994. Halfway through January, news came from the Pentagon that both the Edward Air Force Base and the White Sands Missile Range will enter a short period of use and the crew can enter the scene for shooting.