In a mansion filled with fog all day long in a small British island, the hostess Grace woke up from a nightmare again, wiped the corners of her eyes, and started a busy day with energy. Her husband was not at home, so she had to be strong.
For some reason, all the servants at home suddenly disappeared, so she posted an advertisement for hiring servants, and three people came to apply today.
A gray-haired gardener, a hale and hearty old woman, and a shrinking mute girl, the combination of the three seems very strange, but because no one has applied for the job since it was posted for so long, Ge Reese accepted them anyway, and introduced them to a series of rules of the house.
I don't know if it was because of the arrival of the three of them, all kinds of strange things began to happen in the mansion. Her daughter Anne claimed that she saw a little boy, and Grace heard some strange voices from time to time. Grace grew more and more uneasy about the new servant who seemed to be muttering about something. Until one day, the husband who went out to fight came back suddenly. The excited Grace thought that with the backbone of the family, life would return to the right track again, but the husband did not have the joy of reunion that Grace had. Seeing his wife and children , instead became sad, spent a few days at home, and left again suddenly.
〗, The strange things in the old house are still going on, coupled with her husband's departure again, Grace's spirit is getting more and more tense, and finally one day she finds that all the curtains of the old house have been pulled down, Grace Ruth repeatedly emphasized that the two sick children cannot see the sun, so the angry hostess blamed all this on the three servants and drove them out.
Two playful children ran out of the backyard garden through the window one night. The little girl Annie found three tombstones. After looking closely, she was horrified to find that the three new servants who appeared in the family a few days ago were engraved on the tombstones. At the same time, the three servants came out of the darkness again, Annie called her brother and ran towards the gate, and Grace, who accidentally discovered the 'truth', also rushed out quickly with a rifle, protecting The child returned to the old house and blocked the three ghosts from the door. When Grace repeatedly begged the three ghosts to let her family go, the two children who returned upstairs screamed. Grace prayed and climbed up the stairs and opened a door, because the psychic Calling back the soul, Grace finally saw another family in reality.
All in all, Grace had to face the reality. It turned out that she, and her two children, were dead.
Holding the two children helplessly, the heartbroken hostess had to recall the sad past.
Amidst Grace and the two children's sleepy shouts, the movie officially ended, and the ending subtitles hadn't been made yet, so the lights in the auditorium were turned on directly.
"Eric, how is it this time?"
Jonathan Demi asked unconfidently. Although he made a lot of changes according to Eric's opinions, Jonathan was still not sure whether he would satisfy Eric.
"Small Island" was closed in mid-June, and part of the post-production was also carried out in the UK, because some additional shots were needed from time to time, the entire crew stayed in the UK until July before returning to the United States.
After the end of "Dark War", Eric visited the filming site in the UK. After seeing the filming in person and inspecting some of Jonathan's shots, Eric was very satisfied with Jonathan's shooting results. Perhaps it was Eric's previous affirmation. When Jonathan confidently showed Eric the version he edited, the so-called director's cut, he was still very confident that he spent a lot of energy editing it. The version will be approved by Eric.
But the reality poured cold water on Jonathan. After watching his edited version with a frown, Eric frowned, and directly signaled the staff to play it from the beginning. , Eric has written more than 20 revisions in the notepad, involving all aspects of the lens, soundtrack, editing, etc., basically pushing Jonathan's edited version to the end.
Although Jonathan was a little unconvinced, he did not have the final editing rights after all, so he could only honestly make major revisions according to Eric's opinions.
After completing the production again according to Eric's opinion, Jonathan watched the film again and felt that this version was indeed much better than the one he edited before. The creation of a psychologically suspenseful environment also made Jonathan admire this young man more than 20 years younger than himself.
Although Jonathan has done a lot of preparatory work in order to get the position of director of this film, and some of the concepts proposed at the beginning are also in line with Eric's vision, but many methods still cannot escape the stereotype of old-fashioned horror movies. Amendment, but a lot of habitual things can't be changed if you want to. Innovating things like this is easier said than done in any circle.
Hearing Jonathan's question, Eric did not rush to answer Jonathan's question, but leaned on the seat and carefully compared the differences and similarities between the original movie in his mind and the movie he just watched. Among the three movies invested in "Small Island", "Steel Magnolia" and "Scent of a Woman", Eric is the most optimistic about the box office prospects of "Small Island", so he is also optimistic about this movie. Best of all.
As for the other two films "Steel Magnolia" and "Scent of a Woman", Eric's delegation of power is much greater than that of "Small Island Cry", and "Steel Magnolia" is completely authorized by Herbert Ross Responsible, Eric did not even participate in the editing, and although the final editing right of "Scent of a Woman" is in Eric's hands, he will respect Al Pacino's opinion in the future. In comparison, the production of "Small Island Cry" seems a bit 'willful'. He also knew it would hurt to completely overturn Jonathan's director's cut, but he had to for the film to be a box-office success.
I saw Jonathan's edited version before, and the reason why I was able to list so many revisions at one go is of course not Eric's own talent, but because of the reference of the original film in his mind.
Even if he had a little bit of extraordinary talent in his previous life, it was worn away in so many years of wastage, and the only thing left is the professional skills imprinted in his instinctive habits, just like an old man who has been in the kitchen for decades. Master, without using your brain at all, you can cook a table of delicious dishes based on your habits.
For a movie, even with the same script and the same material, the movies edited by different people will be very different. Eric had heard in his previous life that someone edited a classic serious historical movie into a vulgar and funny movie through re-editing the lens, and the lines, materials, music, etc. have not changed at all, but rearranged lens. So Eric is not demanding that he can perfectly reproduce the "Small Island" that is exactly the same as in memory. Besides, the one in the previous life is not without flaws. In order to create the tense and suspenseful atmosphere that horror movies should have, Eric made some changes to the original plot in this version.
It took about ten minutes to compare carefully, and Eric nodded lightly: "Yes, basically it's ok, just make one or two small changes in details. As for the release, Jeffrey Let’s inform the heads of the other four film companies besides Fox and Columbia to see if they are interested in participating in our internal audition.”
Jonathan finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Eric's affirmation, but Jeffrey hesitated: "Eric, it's not good not to inform Fox and Columbia, after all, we have the closest cooperation with these two? "
Eric Tanshou explained: "Looking at the current situation, after Columbia is acquired by the Japanese, there will definitely be a lot of personnel changes. It is hard to say how the Japanese will manage Columbia after they take over. Even the share of "Dark War" is mine. Now I am a little worried about whether I can get it back on time, so I don’t want to cooperate with them in the short term. As for Fox, they already have the distribution rights of my next two films, and giving them to them will only cause us to compete with our own films. resource."
Jeffrey suggested: "Do you think this will work? We invite people from Fox and Columbia as usual. As for whether we will cooperate in the end, isn't it up to us in the end? And it would be rude if we don't invite."
Eric lowered his head and thought for a while, then nodded: "Okay, I will do as you said, and "Steel Magnolia" is also put together for a trial screening, as for "Scent of a Woman", let's do it for the time being." Put it down, let Al slowly toss it, as long as it can be screened on a small scale at the end of the year, anyway, this movie is for him to hit the Oscars."
After the two discussed the release of the film, Jonathan Demme had a chance to interject: "Eric, will you go to the Venice Film Festival in September?"
"Yes, I will at least be there at the opening ceremony or the awards ceremony," Eric replied.
Among the three major film festivals in Europe, the Venice Film Festival is the one most closely related to the Chinese film circle. Eric was very interested in the Venice Film Festival in his previous life. This time he just has the opportunity, so of course he will go there.
Speaking of which, it has been a whole year since he was reborn, and Eric has been so busy that he doesn't even have time to relax. Maybe the trip to Venice can be regarded as a vacation. As for the award, Eric didn't expect too much. Although the plot setting of "Small Island" is very novel, this film is not only a commercial film, but also a horror film. Either of these two categories is very popular with the film festival judges discrimination, but this film includes these two least pleasing factors. It is already a very good result to be shortlisted in the main competition unit of Venice.