Simon looked at the situation in front of him and was a little confused as to why the first production meeting of "The Butterfly Effect" fell into such an embarrassing situation of tit-for-tat.
However, considering the attitudes of David Giller and Brian De Palma, Simon is not too worried about the progress of the matter. These two Hollywood celebrities who also have no shortage of voice obviously have the same feelings as himself. position.
After confirming this, Simon felt relieved and could not help but secretly begin to analyze the situation in front of him.
Hollywood also has a very complex power structure. But usually, it is very simple to determine a person's authority in Hollywood. You only need to look at his affiliation, that is, which level of Hollywood the person is responsible for.
From what David Giller just said, Simon realized that the other party should be directly responsible to Fox Film President Ronald Goldberg and was not under the control of Fox Vice President Peter Sanders. It can be said that they are of the same level.
Even, from the momentum of the exchange between the two, Simon noticed that David Giller clearly had the upper hand.
Since he was going to collaborate on the "Butterfly Effect" project, Simon naturally did some homework in advance.
David Giller, who is in his fifties this year, is the producer of Fox's "Alien 2", which is currently being released, and Simon knows this very well. So, combined with the deliberate comparison in David Giller's words just now, Simon realized that Peter Sanders was probably related to Fox's "Space Station" project that failed at the box office in the summer.
With a budget of 18 million U.S. dollars and the highest quality schedule in early June, the box office was only a little over 9 million. This is not an ordinary setback.
Things turned out exactly as Simon expected.
Following David Giller's last words, Peter Sanders' face suddenly became a little ugly, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and then he said: "David, I am only doing this for the company's 10 million Invest responsibly in U.S. dollars and don’t mean to target anyone.”
David Giller felt that Peter Sanders' momentum had softened, and he stopped chasing after him, saying: "Of course, this is your responsibility. But, Peter, all you need to ensure is that the film investment is used It's my job and Brian's job to be in the right place and not dictate the content of the movie."
Peter Sanders felt the non-negotiable strength in David Giller's tone. He hesitated for a moment and then shrugged: "Well, I hope you don't screw up this movie."
The seizure of power failed.
Simon secretly came to this conclusion and glanced at Peter Sanders again. At the same time, he realized that this was a guy who was very good at bullying the weak and afraid of taking advantage of the situation.
Peter Saunders's attempt to seize the creative control of "The Butterfly Effect" was blocked by David Giller, and the following meeting was obviously much more normal.
However, even so, David Giller and Brian De Palma still put forward a lot of opinions on the script revision.
David Giller's opinions mainly focused on the title of the movie and the ending of the story, which is similar to the content of the memo just now.
As a producer who needs to consider the future commercial prospects of the film, David Giller also hopes that the film can have a more popular name. At the same time, David also hoped that Simon could rewrite a gentler ending, rather than ending with the hero strangling himself in the mother's womb.
This definitely goes back to the ending of the original.
Brian De Palma's opinion is that he hopes to compress the protagonist's childhood scenes to less than 20 minutes to avoid this part of the preparation being too lengthy.
Compared with the initial memorandum, which was almost random, both of them were very professional in their opinions at this time. Although Simon did not completely agree with it, he also dealt with it very seriously.
The three main creators were discussing as if no one was around, but Peter Sanders, who was left alone, did not leave. He still stayed in the conference room, occasionally interjecting a few words. It was not until lunch time that Peter Sanders stood up to leave, saying that he had other work in the afternoon and would not come back again.
In the internal restaurant of Fox Studios, after several contacts, David Giller and Brian De Palma both had a good impression of Simon, a promising young man. After ordering lunch, David Giller took the initiative to Revealed some not-so-secret inside information to Simon.
It turns out that "Space Station", which failed miserably at the box office in the summer, was the project that Peter Sanders brokered. Fox not only gave the film a high-profile production budget of 18 million U.S. dollars, but also the best movie schedule. Fox Film President Ronald Goldberg also personally named executive producer.
All of this is because of the heroine of "Space Station", named Kate Capshaw, Steven Spielberg's fiancée.
After hearing this, Simon immediately understood what Fox was doing.
In the original time and space, it is no exaggeration to say that in the last thirty years of the 20th century, Hollywood was almost dominated by Spielberg.
With the great success of films such as "Jaws", "ET", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Jurassic Park", Spielberg is completely admired by Hollywood stars. Although Spielberg is a direct director of Warner, Universal and Paramount, any other company outside of these three companies is also doing everything possible to try to build a relationship with Spielberg.
In addition to "Space Station", Simon recently read in "The Hollywood Reporter" that Disney has just approved an animated and live-action combination film with Spielberg's Amblin Pictures called "Who Framed" Roger Rabbit.
In order to become a member of the 'Spielberg camp', Disney gave the film a budget of up to $45 million. You know, in the 1980s, the budget cost of Hollywood's big-budget movies was generally controlled within 20 million US dollars. Only movies related to Spielberg can easily break through this heavy budget restriction, and even increase the average budget cost several times.
In the restaurant, I noticed the faint envy and fascination on Simon's face, and the two middle-aged men, both in their forties and fifties, looked at each other and smiled.
Every year in Hollywood, countless young people dream of becoming the second Spielberg, but only a few of them can achieve anything in the end.
But the young man in front of him, who has just entered Hollywood for less than two months, has already attracted a lot of attention. Coupled with the undoubted talent shown by Simon, David Giller and Brian De Palma They all realized that Simon would definitely be able to make a career in Hollywood in the future.
Therefore, the two Hollywood celebrities, who were already middle-aged and successful at this time, did not mind giving this young man a push.
David Giller slightly inspired Simon's ambition, and Brian De Palma, who was also sitting opposite Simon, also asked: "Simon, I heard Jonathan say that you plan to make an experimental film, can you?" Tell me? Maybe David and I can give you some advice."
Simon didn't realize that the two middle-aged men in front of him were trying to help each other intentionally or unintentionally. Even if he knew, he would only be grateful for the kindness of the other party. Having been in a similar circle for more than ten years in his previous life, Simon knew the importance of connections in this kind of circle.
"Actually, that's what I wanted to say in the morning meeting," Simon said after hearing Brian De Palma's question and taking out the script and storyboards of "Run Lola Run" from the backpack placed on the chair next to him. He handed the drawings to David Giller and Brian De Palma respectively, and said: "David, and Brian, I don't think we need to change the name of the movie "The Butterfly Effect." In this incident, due to many media reports, many people have actually noticed the term 'butterfly effect'. Moreover, the experimental film I plan to make called "Lola Run" can also explain it very vividly. The concept of 'Butterfly Effect'. By then, if Fox can provide some media resource support, through this movie, the concept of 'Butterfly Effect' will spread more widely. In the end, even if some people still do not understand the meaning of this term, As long as the overall popularity of the movie is activated, this set of words can also become a suspense that attracts audiences into the theater."
Although he was aware of Simon's intention to use Fox to help promote his movie, Simon's remarks, which had unique personal insights into movie marketing, still made David Giller, who had just opened the script of "Run Lola Run", nod slightly. . Next to David Giller, Brian De Palma was attracted by Simon's extremely professional shot drawings.
Seeing that both of them were interested, Simon naturally changed the topic to "Run Lola Run" and continued: "About "Run Lola Run", this is an experimental film with a parallel three-part structure. The story is very simple , Laura's boyfriend Manny accidentally lost $100,000. In order to prevent her boyfriend from being killed by her boss, Laura must raise $100,000 within 20 minutes and rush to where Manny is. However, I want to use video games The story is presented in the level-breaking mode. According to the backstory setting of the video game, Lola made three different attempts in the same scenario in order to raise $100,000 and rush to her boyfriend. The results of these three attempts were different. At the same time, every time Laura runs, it also has a very subtle impact on the lives of some people she meets on the road. These impacts continue to amplify, eventually leading to completely different life directions for these people. This is the butterfly effect."
The script of "Run Lola Run" is not long. Listening to Simon's explanation, David Giller quickly flipped through the plot of Lola running into the woman pushing the stroller at the first intersection. Brian De Palma was attracted by Simon's storyboards and did not ignore Simon's explanation. At this time, he raised his head and asked: "Simon, how do you plan to express this 'butterfly effect'?"
"Photo montage," Simon replied simply: "Every time Laura meets a clue character, she can insert a quick photo montage to show the subsequent life direction of these people."
After hearing Simon's explanation, Brian De Palma thought for a moment, and an expression of appreciation gradually appeared on his face. He couldn't help but raise his hand and tap lightly on the table, saying: "What an amazing idea."
Although he had seen this form of expression in the script in advance, David Giller still nodded in agreement and praised without hesitation: "It's great."
David Giller and Brian De Palma have both been immersed in Hollywood for decades. The longer they stay, the more they realize how difficult it is to innovate in this circle. .
As Simon continued to explain, the two of them even vaguely felt that if Simon's movie was done well, it would definitely become an object of study and imitation for many Hollywood filmmakers in the future.
The waiter in the restaurant had already brought lunch, but none of the three had any intention of eating.
After chatting carefully for more than half an hour, David Giller said: "So, Simon, you are saying that you plan to use your "Butterfly Effect" royalties to complete this film?"
Simon nodded: "Yes."
David Giller thought for a while and said: "The total remuneration of your contract is US$200,000. After excluding the agent's commission and reserved taxes, there is only a maximum of US$150,000 left. If it is shot with a 16MM camera, maybe It's enough, but it's such a waste of your script, why not make it a standard 35MM film?"
Simon paused and said, "David, I originally planned to shoot on 35MM film."
David Giller also paused this time and said: "You mean, 150,000 US dollars, shooting on 35MM film? Simon, you have to understand that although it seems that they are just two shooting modes with different specifications, 16MM film and 35MM movies, but they are definitely two completely different production specifications. Your movie also involves a large number of outdoor scenes. Without the support of a complete professional crew, it is very difficult to implement the shooting. So, for 150,000 US dollars, There was no way to finish the movie.”
Hearing David Giller, a well-known Hollywood producer with decades of production experience, say this, Simon finally confirmed a doubt that had been lingering in his mind for some time.
The production level of the original "Run Lola Run" in all aspects, whether it is the picture, soundtrack, lighting, scenery or even editing, does not have many signs of a low-budget movie. Simon had always thought that this might be due to the genius of director Tom Tykwer. Production costs in the film industry have always been very flexible.
Furthermore, Simon had little understanding of the common specifications of German filmmaking.
The 350,000 German marks in my memory, converted into US dollars, is about 180,000. Converted into RMB, that's almost 1.5 million. 1.5 million yuan was definitely more than enough to make a movie in 1998.
However, as he has made in-depth preparations for "Run Lola Run" these days, Simon has increasingly felt that the funds he has to complete the film are somewhat stretched, and Simon has even begun to subconsciously simplify the shooting specifications of some scenes.
Now, as David Giller points out, Simon finally confirms that he may have misremembered the budget size of "Lola Run".
Perhaps, in the original time and space, the production cost of "Run Lola Run" was not 350,000 German marks at all. It should be that I missed a zero!