Chapter 58
"Interesting, very interesting. Mr. Smith, you are the most energetic director I have ever seen. Although I haven't seen the movie yet, your words make me full of anticipation. I hope this movie can let my big scissors pass. Great fun!" Walter laughed, leaning on the sofa, looking at Zhang Dongcheng with admiration.
"Haha, happy cooperation everyone! Mr. Walter, Mr. Smith, it's getting late, let's have dinner first, and then start talking about work!" Alston couldn't wait to urge him, and the two chatting happily made him also Be happy.
Zhang Dongcheng never said that "Two Smoking Barrels" is a black comedy movie in front of the media. Here he played a small trick, just highlighting the gangster movie. He originally thought that this would trigger more Attention and interest, but did not expect the Daily Mail to pull "Two Smoking Barrels" and "The Godfather" together.
Somewhat self-contained, he can only bite the bullet and put more energy into it. Unlike Guy Ritchie in the original time and space, he can't fail!
For a whole week, Zhang Dongcheng and Mr. Walter were busy, working, and even arguing and arguing in the editing room, in order to elevate the film to a higher level and make it look up to the world.
Zhang Dongcheng has never compared his film with "The Godfather", it is just that reporters with ulterior motives racked their brains to misinterpret his meaning. But to be honest, in his mind, "Two Smoking Barrels" does have its unique charm, especially when there is no such movie as "Trainspotting" in this world!
In the original time and space, "Trainspotting" was released in the UK in 1996. It described the garbage-like life of a group of drug-addicted youths in Edinburgh, Scotland.
This film can be called a wonderful film, from content to form, from performance to director, it exudes a new and new human rebellious temperament. "Shallow Grave" (ShallowGrave) British cutting-edge director Danny Boyle used an extremely wild approach to portray the angry youth of the lower class to life, and without losing the sense of humor.
And "Two Smoking Barrels" is a 1998 movie. Many film critics said that it has the shadow of "Trainspotting", from rock and roll to shooting techniques, from chaotic fragments to drugs and marijuana, and some even said that "Two Smoking Barrels" "is a way of plagiarizing "Trainspotting".
However, in this time and space, there is nothing to worry about, it is 1995!
An epoch-making year!
After the difficult editing, "Two Smoking Barrels" finally took off that layer of shackles, and was about to step onto the stage to show off its infinite charm.
The performance time of "Two Smoking Barrels" has finally been confirmed.
September, the season of harvest, when a blockbuster movie is in full swing, it is suitable for small-budget and small-production movies to break out of the siege. The show of "Two Smoking Barrels" is scheduled for September 2, Monday!
Auston didn't understand why the premiere was on Monday, but Zhang Dongcheng replied helplessly:
Although the reaction in the media has gradually changed, there are still a lot of opposing voices. According to the reader survey of The Times, 18% of people now plan to see this movie, and 42% don't care when it will be released, or even Another 16% of viewers wanted to boycott the film. Rather than release it on weekends, but there are only a few of them, which severely damages the confidence of theaters, it is better to release it on Mondays, and slowly accumulate word-of-mouth effects, so that people who have watched it will consciously become propagandists, driving more people to come to watch, Maybe Saturday will actually see a reasonable boost to the box office.
If you think the figure of 18% is not bad, then let me tell you that the total number of votes from readers is only a little over a thousand, in other words, only two or three hundred people want to go to the cinema to watch "Two Smoking Barrels". People can't even sit in a movie theater!
Moreover, these two or three hundred people are distributed across the three islands of England. If they are evenly distributed, there is only one person in each town!
Well, Alston reluctantly felt that Zhang Dongcheng's opinion was not unreasonable, and he also exhausted all means and could only wait for the first batch of audiences to give their answers.
Do you happily tell your friends that this is an extremely good movie, or do you spit out contemptuously and say that it is not worth watching at all, just like the newspapers?
Everything will be revealed soon.
Cineworld Group, the largest cinema operator in the UK, has 78 cinemas in the UK and Ireland, with more than 500 screens, which is what all film companies are looking forward to.
If your own movie can be shown in this theater, the help to box office revenue is self-evident and indispensable.
Auston, the boss of Hammer Films, is very close to Edward, the general manager of the theater chain. Over the years, based on the inseparable foundation of film and theater chain, the relationship between the two people in private is very good.
Alston brought Zhang Dongcheng to the headquarters center of Cineworld Group in London, wanting to visit Mr. Edward, hoping to get as many screens as possible.
The time has entered the mid-1990s. Today's movie theaters are not as large-scale and single-show as before. In order to meet the different needs of audiences, movie theaters have long been transformed into multi-screen theaters to meet the spiritual needs of modern multi-elements.
If more screens are shown, it will help the movie box office even more. Auston brought Zhang Dongcheng here with confidence to meet with the general manager, Mr. Edward.
Looking at the luxurious cinema in front of him, Zhang Dongcheng stopped in his tracks. The comfortable evening wind blowing in London at night made his windbreaker flutter.
Hope to have good news today. Thinking to himself, Zhang Dongcheng stepped up the stairs with Auston, walked through the crowd, and came to Mr. Edward's office.
"HOHO, Auston, what brought you here." Edward is nearly sixty years old, and he is in good spirits and does not show any signs of aging. The demeanor of a British gentleman can be fully reflected in him.
Meticulous hair, well-tailored suits, and a warm welcome.
"Hey, Edward, it's been three or four months since we last met?" Alston greeted him with a smile on his face.
"Come in and sit down, my friend, this... this is the Chinese director who is in the limelight and has caused the whole British media to turn upside down?" Edward welcomed Auston in, but he was slightly taken aback when he saw Zhang Dongcheng , and then laughed.
"Uh, I'm Smith, hello, Mr. Edward." Zhang Dongcheng adjusted his black-rimmed glasses with some embarrassment. His name was not well-known because of the box office of the movie, but because of the hype of the newspaper. , This made him very speechless.
"Hello, your name can be said to be known to everyone in the British film industry, ha ha." Edward still smiled, then arranged the two of them to sit on the sofa, made two cups of coffee and served them.
"Edward, you know. Smith is a young man, and young people always have the vigor of young people. They are not like us old antiques, who are smoothed by reality and bow their heads. The hype in the newspapers just caught his language. It's not his fault." Alston took a sip of coffee and explained to Edward.
"I know, I know!" Edward smiled and waved his hands, indicating that he has no prejudices: "On the contrary, I quite appreciate his aggressiveness, daring to challenge authority, and his adventurous attitude. I agree with you In a word, the British hundreds of years ago also relied on this spirit to become a country where the sun never sets in the world from a mere island country."
Zhang Dongcheng calmed down his restrained mood, sat on his seat, blushed rarely, and said embarrassingly: "Mr. Need to rely on my new movie to prove myself."
When Auston heard Edward's words of appreciation, he finally let go of the big stone in his heart, so he said to Edward straight to the point: "We have been friends for many years, Edward, I think there is no need to beat around the bush. I have a look Your movie release plan, I want to arrange it to be released on September 2, old friend, tell me directly, can you give me a few hundred screens? Is it two hundred or three hundred?"
After finishing speaking in one breath, Auston still had more to say: "Haha, Edward, I need the best screen that can accommodate the largest number of viewers!"
Edward smiled slightly and stretched out two fingers.