Many years later, the old soldier Ryan came to the Normandy Cemetery where 120,000 lives were buried. He stroked the unforgettable name on the white tombstone, as if he had returned to the past.
The sound of the waves around the landing craft was like the uneasy cry of the soldiers before the Great War. The habitually trembling fingers unscrewed the aluminum kettle. Captain Miller took a sip of water, and his deputy also stuffed a ball of chocolate into his mouth. Try to keep yourself calm.
Following the reminder from the helmsman that he was about to land, Captain Miller and his deputy, Horvath, began to remind the soldiers again in a hurry to pay attention when landing. However, these words did not seem to have any effect. The sound of strafing immediately caused a large number of soldiers in the cabin to fall down before they had time to react.
This tragic scene without any buffer room immediately made many audiences in the screening room gasp, and the constantly shaking lens of the portable camera gave people an illusion of being there.
What happened next is even more heart-wrenching.
Some people struggled to jump into the sea, but were hit by bullets and never surfaced again; The comrades-in-arms, after the sound of the cannon, found that only half of the corpse was left in their hands...
Eric saw a female senior executive from the publishing department sitting not far from the left hand side covering her eyes, and most of the others also showed serious expressions.
Glancing at Catherine next to her, the woman's fingers were tightly gripping the armrest of the seat, obviously not in a relaxed mood.
After the 20-minute Normandy landing battle ended, as the camera cut to the mail room, Eric could clearly feel that everyone in the auditorium was greatly relieved. I applauded the war scene, but quickly realized that this kind of movie is not suitable for such a reaction, so I let it go.
Eric looked at Catherine, who was not relaxing at all, and patted her hand. He leaned over and said softly, "How about we go out for a walk?"
This is the first internal preview meeting after the final cut of "Saving Private Ryan", Catherine shook her head and said, "Isn't that good?"
Eric stretched out his hand and drew straight down, and said softly: "Your back is so straight, it blocks the sight of others."
Catherine was already extremely anxious. Hearing Eric's slightly joking words, she relaxed a lot. Feeling Eric directly holding her hand and wanting to pull her up and leave together, Catherine broke free quickly, but the whole person had already left the seat. I had no choice but to walk out of the auditorium with Eric.
The projection room was on the first floor of the administrative building of Firefly Studios. The two left the projection room, closed the door to isolate the sound of the movie, and the surroundings immediately became quiet.
Because it was Saturday, although there were still many production crews working on the studio side, there were not many people working overtime on the administrative building side. Eric put his hands in his pockets and looked at his body in a black leather jacket and jeans. The slender Catherine said, "Why don't you go to my office for a cup of coffee? Anyway, we've seen it many times. We'll come back after they finish watching."
How could Catherine dare to be alone in a room with this little man who always made her feel turbulent? She pointed to the cement corridor outside the floor-to-ceiling glass window and said, "Let's go outside for a walk."
"OK," Eric took the lead.
The park of Playa Vista Studios is generally a northeast-oriented rectangle, parallel to the Bellona Canal that flows through downtown Culver.
Eric looked at Catherine, who walked out of the administrative building, still looked back with some worry in her eyes, found a topic, and said: "Catherine, I have always been curious, the name 'Ballona' in the name of Bellona next to the studio is What do you mean. Do you know?"
Because she has a deep understanding of classical oil paintings, Catherine is very familiar with some of the Western mythological characters involved in it. Although she was a little absent-minded, she blurted out without hesitation: "That is a tall and beautiful God of War in ancient Rome..." After finishing speaking With this sentence, the woman immediately realized something. He glared at Eric, but there was no trace of annoyance in his eyes, but a hint of shyness that was imperceptible.
Eric smiled and said, "I think the name Bellona sounds nice and suits you very well. The name Catherine is too popular."
"Then do you know that Ennio, Bellona's counterpart to the goddess of war in Greek mythology, is a very bloody and cruel woman. According to the legend, after the Trojan horse slaughtered the city, Troy's blood flowed like a river, but she drank the city's blood while she was drunk .”
Eric spread his hands innocently: "This kind of thing doesn't need to be studied so deeply, I've never heard of such an unpopular side plot."
Catherine smiled at the corner of her mouth, and said with a faint smile, "You were the one who brought up this topic first."
"Okay, my fault," Eric smiled and shook his head: "Then talk about something else, what are your plans next?"
Catherine said: "Take a break, walk around, and then come back to work, remember Becky, she said that Columbia University will hold a pop art exhibition next week, I plan to go and see it."
Eric only vaguely knows that some pop art is a representative of popular culture, but he has not delved into the specifics.
"Maybe I'm going to New York soon, will you stay at that hotel in SoHo?"
Catherine recalled the time the two spent together at the Sixty Soho Hotel three years ago, everything was as clear as yesterday, and she couldn't help but said: "Maybe, but, it's also possible... to live at Becky's house."
"It's not good to disturb others. I have a high-rise apartment at the exit of Sixth Avenue. I can see Central Park. Maybe you can live there."
Catherine stopped and stared at Eric for a few seconds. Seeing that the little man didn't look guilty at all, she felt embarrassed: "You, you should stay here by yourself, I'd better go to the hotel , so that no one will be disturbed."
Eric still had a faint smile on his face, and said calmly: "OK, call me after you stay, maybe we can still be neighbors."
Catherine felt that she had an urge to run away, how could this little bastard be so stalking, he was such a rascal.
The woman picked and picked in a panic, and finally thought of a way to 'change the subject', and said: "When the film is finished, what do you ask me to save all those props. Those things are in the warehouse in Ireland. How about a small storage fee every month?"
In order to film "Saving Private Ryan", the crew prepared thousands of sets of various military uniforms during World War II, as well as a varying number of landing craft and off-road vehicles. There are countless other miscellaneous props, and these things cost tens of millions of dollars. Of course, Eric can't dispose of them at will after the filming like many movies.
What's more, he has a better recycling method in mind.
While it was fun to watch the woman awkwardly change the subject, Eric didn't continue to tease Catherine. It's not good if you scare away: "I plan to use these things to make a mini-series that reflects World War II movies, and it is in the same line as the story of "Ryan", which reflects a company that went deep into enemy lines after the Normandy landing during World War II. Catherine, you have done so much preparation before, you must know more about the history of World War II than I do, are you interested in being the producer of this miniseries?"
Catherine asked: "The cost of war dramas should be very high, how much do you plan to spend on filming?"
"With these props and the production team of "Ryan", the production cost of each episode will not exceed 10 million. I plan to produce ten episodes first."
"That's 100 million US dollars. "Ryan" only cost 70 million, and I'm still worried about whether I can recover the cost, but you have to use 100 million to make a TV series." Catherine shook her head, then laughed, watching Looking at Eric, he said: "I almost forgot, you are the richest man in the United States now, and you are not short of money at all."
Eric has recently become accustomed to the words of those around him teasing him, and said with a smile: "I am the richest man in the United States, but I am not a fool. Don't worry, after the release of "Ryan", there will definitely be a wave of war movies. For a mini-series, it is no problem to recover the cost through multi-channel operation, and I just want to acquire a TV network, and using such a mini-series can also enhance the brand effect of the TV network."
Catherine shook her head: "I don't understand these things. But I have heard some news. I heard that your negotiations with ABC have broken down?"
Eric said: "There is no rupture, but it is the last moment. It depends on whether ABC is willing to take a step back. If it goes well, I will go to New York next week to attend the signing ceremony."
"Today is the 12th. The Oscar Awards Ceremony will be held on the 21st," Catherine said, suddenly feeling relieved or disappointed. If so, Eric will definitely have to come back after staying in New York for a few days: "I heard They invited you to present the best picture award this time, which has rarely happened before."
Due to the influence of the butterfly effect, "Schindler's List", which was supposed to appear this year, was brought forward by one year. This year is a small year for the Oscars, and none of the well-known directors released their own works.
For the sake of ratings, at the beginning of the year, the Oscar Organizing Committee personally invited Eric to participate in this awards ceremony. At first, they hoped that Eric would be the first to appear on the stage to boost the popularity of the awards ceremony. After the release of the new issue of "Forbes" magazine last month, the other party changed their minds, and hoped that Eric would appear at the end and award the heavyweight best film. This kind of award is usually issued by a respected Hollywood celebrity, but in the case of Eric With Rick's current strength and reputation in Hollywood, no one would think that he is not qualified for the best picture award.
"Speaking of Oscar, tonight ICM is holding a warm-up party at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Kapoor called and invited me to show up. Your agency contract is also at ICM, do you want to go with me?"
Catherine shook her head and said, "I still don't want it, I plan to go home early to rest."
Eric saw a flash of heartbeat in Catherine's expression, but then refused. After thinking about it, he thought of the possible reason. Not only Catherine, but because of the cooperation with Firefly Pictures, Cameron's agency contract is also in ICM. Catherine obviously didn't want to meet Cameron, so Eric didn't say anything else.
The two walked around the corridors of the park nervously, drank a cup of coffee in the coffee shop, and felt that "Saving Private Ryan" was about to end before walking towards the administrative building.
When they walked into the screening hall, the fluorescent lights in the screening hall were already on, and the employees of the publicity and distribution department who participated in the internal trial screening were all whispering. Seeing Eric and Catherine walking in, everyone stopped chatting at the same time, and fell silent for a moment After that, everyone applauded in unison.
Because the negotiation was suspended, Katzenberg, who just came back from New York and just participated in this internal screening, came over and said: "Ms. Catherine, congratulations on making a great movie. will believe it."
Catherine knew that Katzenberg hadn't said the whole thing. He must have meant that he would never believe that this was taken by a woman. However, Catherine didn't mind, she shook hands with Katzenberg with a smile, and said, "Thank you for your affirmation, Jeffrey."
Katzenberg nodded, and then said to Eric: "However, Eric, there are two very important issues with this film. One is the duration, which is 170 minutes, which is close to three hours. Edit it. In addition, it is a matter of rating. If this film cuts the part that is too bloody, although it will be able to get PG-13, it will lose the authenticity of the scene, but if it is not modified, it will definitely be rated R. of."
Eric knows Katzenberg's personality very well. As a workaholic, although Katzenberg has the sociable side of many executives, he often becomes straightforward when it comes to work, so he doesn't mind Katzenberg Grid's confession, said: "Jeffrey, the rough cut of this film is four and a half hours. Catherine and I have already trimmed it to the maximum extent. I think it is impossible to shorten the 170 minutes in front of me. As for the R rating Well, Terminator has proven that an R rating doesn’t mean it’s a box office failure, so that’s fine with that. It’s a war movie after all.”
Rui, the rough cut version of this film is four and a half hours. Catherine and I have already trimmed it to the maximum extent. I think it is impossible to shorten the 170 minutes in front of the market. As for the R rating, "Terminator" has proved that an R-rated movie does not mean a box office failure, so there is nothing to care about. This is a war movie after all. "(To be continued.)