Made in Hollywood

In an exclusive interview with Vanity Fair, Duke once said that he can play any film below the investment level of tens of millions of dollars, because he has such commercial value, but large investment and large production cannot be willful, and must conform to the The current market rules and the viewing needs of mainstream audiences.

And Duke also has to admit that Japanese culture has more market value than Chinese culture in today's North America. Budokan is designed in Japanese style, which is more easily accepted by the audience, and there is actually only this one from the beginning to the end of the film. A distinctly foreign-style building.

The reason is obvious. If too many non-Western elements are added to the film in this era, it will inevitably become a niche film!

Maybe someone will mention "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which is the only box office big hit in North America with a distinctive Chinese style. It is impossible to deny the fact that this is a niche movie, and a considerable number of theaters that have been screened in North America are close to the Chinese and Asian communities.

If there are Chinese-style pictures of several large scenes in a row in the picture of "The Matrix", you can imagine how serious the damage to the overall cyberpunk style of the film is.

To put it simply, it is not impossible for "The Matrix" to become a niche film.

Duke doesn't want to be Quentin Tastino, making a niche movie that only pleases Hong Kong-style movie lovers.

"The Matrix" is a commercial film with large investment and production. It must meet the tastes of mainstream audiences. Adding some inexplicable things that are not recognized by the North American market today is not innovation, but digging its own grave.

Don't say Duke, think of James Cameron once.

Why is the king of the world in such a big investment movie. Adopt two stories that are so vulgar and bland? He really couldn't have written a more appropriate script? Anyone who has seen "Terminator 2" probably doesn't think so.

James Cameron chose two old slag stories, precisely because this is the safest way. The prince and Cinderella, the poor boy and the rich girl are the most talked about themes by the audience. investment, it is determined that they are the most secure, most suitable for the public taste and will not arouse the disgust of the vast majority of the audience.

There's no guarantee that a film will sell outright, and Duke can't. Spielberg can't, and James Cameron can't either, but the big directors are aware of the fact that if they act recklessly when making commercial films, the possibility of failure is infinite.

Commercial films are not experimental films after all.

After the first two days of filming, the crew was divided into two, and Zach Snyder took Keanu Reeves and others to Sydney to shoot on location. Duke left behind John Schwartzman, who was at odds with Schneider, and assigned the increasingly mature Ben Watts to him, while he himself remained in Warner Studios, overseeing Yuan Heping and the rest of the filming. The action scenes are the same as his action team. Try to learn from it what is useful to you.

For the next few days, Trinity's fight scenes were filmed in the studio.

Charlize Theron wore a tight, shiny black leather jacket to take advantage of long legs and a slender waist according to a specially designed action routine. It's so vivid in the lens, and compared to Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne. Due to having practiced ballet, Charlize's balance ability is even better, and the wire hanging is much better than the previous two.

Moreover, this action is mainly based on leg attacks, which can be said to have brought Charlize's vase job to the limit at this stage. Especially when Charlize Theron guns are combined and the inverted cross is used, it is so beautiful.

"I didn't disappoint you, did I?"

Taking advantage of the break, Charlize Theron found Duke behind the monitor, "Am I doing well?"

"very good!"

Even though the footage was shot without any processing, Duke felt that Charlize Theron could kill another Trinity in one second.

Just in terms of talent and capital, she completely overwhelmed the heroine whose name Duke had forgotten.

"tired?"

Seeing Charlize lightly knocking on the heel of his high-heeled leather boots, Duke pointed to the chair next to him, "Sit down."

Charlize Theron sat down with his feet completely off the ground.

Sexy beauties wearing high-heeled leather boots fighting and running on the screen are often seen in commercial movies. They look beautiful and eye-catching, but such shoes are not suitable for actual combat at all, let alone real hands, even if they are When filming a movie, the heroine wearing shoes is often miserable.

But Duke just glanced, but didn't say anything, this kind of bitterness is just the norm for Hollywood stars.

Seeing Duke flipping through the picture just now, Charlize wisely chose to be silent, brushing his short black hair with one hand, but he didn't dare to use force to avoid messing up the hairstyle. After grinding out how many blood blisters, I gradually got used to it. As long as I think about the possible big sales of future films after they are released, this pain is nothing at all.

When Duke was finished with his coffee cup, Charlize Theron asked, "I heard the movie will be released in May next year?"

"That's right."

Although the news has not been officially announced to the public, it is no longer a secret within the crew. Duke put down his coffee cup, turned his head and asked with a smile, "Why, can't wait? Sally, as long as you can maintain your current state during filming, I Guarantee that even if the film fails, you will become popular."

"How could your film fail?" Charlize first returned a big smile, then said, "I'm a little worried, I learned from the agent that we have strength one week before and one week after the release date. Strong big-budget releases, like DreamWorks' $85 million Crash and Sony Columbia Pictures' $150 million Godzilla."

"It doesn't matter." Duke shook his head, "Honey, that's the summer season. Every weekend is a popular season. There are summer weekends that are completely free before and after the weekend? It's better to stagger the release of these two films. Memorial Day, where commercials used to come together."

How many weekends are there in the summer season from May to July? How many summer movies does Hollywood produce in a year? Competition is virtually inevitable.

In addition, the summer vacation is nominally until the end of July, but in fact everyone knows that after the Independence Day period, the effect of the summer vacation weekend will decline to a certain extent. The waist bag will be deflated, and it will also cause aesthetic fatigue.

According to the tradition of the North American file, unless it is a special film like "Independence Day", a large production with higher investment and a hotter effect will often appear earlier in the summer season, especially at the beginning of the summer season.

There is hunger and saturation in the market. Since the concept of summer vacation was formed, March when the Oscars are usually held and April after the awards season officially ends are the dullest times of the year, and there are no popular times. As mentioned in the spring season, films with large investment will not be released in these two months. There will be a lack of films with heavier weight for two consecutive months, and the market will feel hungry, and then the films will be blocked in the first few weekends of May, as long as Not too bad, it will be a direct beneficiary of this hunger.

In fact, looking at the entire North American film history, it is not difficult to find that in the middle and early May, which represents the beginning of the summer season, there are always many blockbusters released together.

This is arguably one of the most competitive times of the year.

Of course, all summer movies will face fierce competition if they want to sell well.

Although there was DreamWorks' "Crash" before and Sony Entertainment's "Godzilla", Duke was never afraid of competition, as he said to Charlize, even if it was another weekend, the same There are wolves in front and tigers in the back. Since the film has chosen to be released in the summer, competition is inevitable.

And there's a bonus this weekend. According to Warner Bros. Doug Walter, Duke didn't find his impressive name in at least the same weekend's movies, and didn't invest more than $50 million in big productions.

Although it has not yet entered the new century, the proportion of the first-week box office of commercial films is becoming more and more important. Avoiding collisions with competitive films on the same weekend is a priority for each distribution company.

After a few more chats, Charlize took the initiative to leave to touch up the makeup. Duke walked behind the camera and discussed with Yuan Heping about the filming progress. It didn't take long for the action scene about Trinity to start filming again.

Perhaps from Africa, Charlize Theron has a sexy figure hidden under a tight leather jacket, as well as a natural wildness, like a female leopard from the African savannah, and she has done a lot of modeling and ballet training. Flexible enough and soft enough to personally complete a few high-leg kicks, his effort is also commendable.

There may be shortcuts to Hollywood-style success, but there are absolutely no shortcuts to hard work, and Hollywood-style success lacks the support of hard work, which often means falling to failure faster than success.

At the end of the day's shooting, Duke was not going to work overtime, and prepared a media party with the Star Wars crew at Fox Studios. Due to the good relationship between Duke and Lucas, the other party also invited the main actors of "The Matrix". staff are present.

Of course, in this way, there will be more celebrities, and it will attract more attention. It is a completely mutually beneficial activity.

Packing up his belongings and picking up the briefcase on the side, Duke habitually wanted to call Tina Fey, and then he remembered sending her back to North America, so he shook his head and walked out of the studio.

Before taking a few steps, there were slightly heavy footsteps behind him. Charlize Theron seemed really tired and chased after him with heavy footsteps.

"Can I take your ride back to the hotel?" she asked.

The two crews lived in the same hotel, and the hotel where the party was held was also in the hotel. Duke naturally would not refuse, and nodded, "Let's go, go back to take a shower and change clothes early." (To be continued ~^~)