Made in Hollywood

"Director Rosenberg, can you tell me what you think about the golden sour plum?"

The media reporters were obviously prepared. Duke had just walked to the gate of Warner Studios and was surrounded. These guys shouted one question after another.

"Independence Day only won one award for best visual effects at the Oscars, but it won seven Golden Raspberry Awards. What do you think?"

"Is this a blow to you?"

"Will it affect your career?"

A reporter wearing a CBS badge suddenly squeezed in front of Duke and asked loudly, "Director Rosenberg, the huge failure he encountered on "Independence Day"..."

"fail?"

The reporter was interrupted by Duke, who stared at the reporter from Columbia TV, "Do you think Independence Day failed? A commercial production that currently grosses $905.78 million worldwide is a Failed? Movies watched by over 400 million people worldwide fail?"

Looking coldly at these reporters who were afraid that the world would not be in chaos, Duke, with the assistance of the Warners studio security personnel, got rid of their chase and entered the studio.

Some time ago, when the global box office of "Independence Day" exceeded 900 million US dollars, these guys and the media behind them could not wait to hold him to the sky and make him the greatest commercial director ever in Hollywood, so he was about to kneel and lick it. As soon as he came out, the same guy jumped to his opposite one by one, describing "Independence Day" as the waterloo of his life and the turning point of his directorial career.

Even with Duke's steady state of mind, he had to admire the integrity of the media. To describe them as broken would be to praise them.

Of course, the media of Warner, Fox and Disney, because of their shared interests, have been speaking out in support of him.

But Duke doesn't care too much. After all, he is not a stunned young man who doesn't understand anything. The media all over the world, from Europe to the Middle East to the Far East, are all serving interest groups, and they can never stand on the sidelines. In a fair and just position, even if it is relatively fair.

Walking into the D-Day studio, Duke went straight to the conference room, where actors such as Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, and crew leaders such as Robin Grande and Charles Rowan were already arrive.

Warner's studio can gather so many reporters, not only because of him, but mainly because of Tom Hanks.

Subsequently, the heads of the publicity departments of Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, as well as representatives of Walt Disney also walked into the conference room one after another.

The post-production of "Saving Private Ryan" has entered the final stage, and the next major focus must be on publicity and distribution, and the meeting discussed this aspect.

Just like before, Duke is sitting here listening most of the time, occasionally raising a few opinions. This is not his field of expertise. Professional things are left to professionals to do the most realistic business rules. .

As a North American distributor, Fox representatives mentioned several times a competitor released at the same time, that is, "Braveheart" packaged by CAA for Paramount Pictures.

While Fox and Paramount have collaborated on James Cameron's projects, they wouldn't be foolish enough to extend that partnership to two head-to-head films, Braveheart and Saving Private. Ryan's only relationship is a competitor.

Twentieth Century Fox has also formulated a more targeted publicity plan, not only to promote "Saving Private Ryan", but also to take the initiative to suppress "Braveheart" from the media to theaters to promotion and so on. , and for mutual benefit, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney will also be involved.

Although he can't remember Braveheart's box office performance, Duke isn't too worried about the film's massive impact.

In fact, the reason is very simple. Even if William Wallace's "freedom" slogan is shouted again, it will not change the story of Scotland, and it will still touch the sensitive Scottish independence of some Anglo-Saxon descendants. "Saving Private Ryan" is a film about Americans' own history, and it is so in line with mainstream values.

Don't underestimate the difference between foreign stories and your own stories, which often become the key to the success or failure of the film.

North America is a strange land, isolationism is still prevalent, and most of the American public doesn't care much about things that have nothing to do with the United States.

There is also the US media market, which is definitely the largest insulator in the world. Even in the past 20 years, US TV stations have not broadcast a single foreign program during their prime time, and American audiences have watched far fewer foreign-themed movies than expected. , The foreign films that can really succeed are often adaptations of classic literary works or from fairy tales and myths that are popular in the Western world.

As for William Wallace, the actual Scottish traitor, how many people in the American public know who he is?

The kind of thing that randomly pulls a subject from France, Germany, or even the far east, and the shooting will be successful, not much higher than the one percent chance.

"Leo..." Charles Rowan's words interrupted Duke's thoughts, and the production manager told Leonardo DiCaprio to cooperate with the promotion, "During the time before the film was released, you and Claudio Ya Shiver increases the number of trips, and we will contact the media to report on you."

Using the actor's emotional life to hype a movie is the most common means of publicity.

Unlike Duke who just played with Heidi Klum, Leonardo DiCaprio and Claudia Schiffer really developed into a couple, the model of supermodel and handsome Hollywood guy. Can get a lot of eyeballs.

Of course, with Xiao Li's nature, this relationship didn't last long.

Maybe when the movie's popularity subsided, he encouraged Xiao Li to kick Claudia Schiffer? Then the two of them had a vigorous X-War, which should be able to increase the box office of the film?

Despite thinking of such a bad idea, Duke would not do it himself, but prepared for Nancy to communicate with the crew later.

"Charles, I have a few suggestions."

After the production manager finished speaking, Duke, who had been silent, said, "We invite World War II veterans and historians who have studied World War II and the Normandy D-Day to participate in the test screening. If they can get the affirmation of these people, "Saving Private Ryan" will be in the war. On the element of epic, it will be more attractive to the audience.”

"Propaganda and hype their possible positive reviews of the movie to attract war movie fans?" The Fox representative nodded quickly. "That's a good idea!"

Duke is only responsible for making suggestions. As for the actual operation, these professionals know more than him.

"Charlie." He is most concerned about the other side, "How many theaters are expected to win the film?"

"The exact numbers will depend on the results of the test screenings."

As one of the heads of Fox's publicity department, Charlie Adam didn't hide it and told the truth, "Duke, you have to be mentally prepared, "Saving Private Ryan" can't have as high a studio as "Independence Day" Wire!"

Duke nodded, indicating he understood.

This is a normal thing. Compared with the sci-fi action type of "Independence Day", "Saving Private Ryan" has a natural disadvantage in terms of subject matter, and when the former was released last year, there were no strong competitors in the same period, and it was easy to get 2800 yuan. No one can underestimate the power of Paramount Pictures. The two films will open on the same weekend, and the number of theaters will be affected.

According to Duke's estimates, if the preview goes well and the audience and theater representatives respond well, "Saving Private Ryan" may open with about 2,500 theaters.

The publisher will be responsible for the cinema and publicity. Duke's most urgent task at present is to complete the post-production of "Saving Private Ryan" with high quality and quantity.

Adding special effects, tweaking the soundtrack, editing sound effects, and matching color tones will all be completed over the next few weeks, with Duke calling in the lead actors to re-dub certain scenes, and by the end of April, except for the lack of credits At the end of the film, "Saving Private Ryan" has basically completed post-production.

At the same time, the publicity work is also proceeding in an orderly manner, and heavyweight news is released at regular intervals. Just this week, posters of major actors such as Tom Hanks were thrown out, and the tabloids and entertainment magazines will fry the grams next week. Laudia Schiffer's new romance with Leonardo DiCaprio.

When the time entered May, the crew released the first trailer cut by Duke himself, which landed on the big screen of the theater and prime-time on ABC, NBC and Fox.

Just like the halftime commercials of the Super Bowl, Duke's cuts are still hot and true to cruel war scenes. After years of accumulation, he is very clear about what the audience wants to see in the summer vacation, anti-war and humanistic care. It's not impossible to mention it, but it must not be used as the focus of publicity. The current publicity is only to make potential audiences want to watch.

The publicity is not only promoting "Saving Private Ryan", but also targeting "Braveheart".

Many media under the co-producer suddenly became interested in Scottish history, and carried out the most basic Scottish history popularization for the North American public. Among them, the most controversial figure was William Wallace. In the media promotion of Warners, Fox and Disney, William Wallace was a decidedly disgraced character, the most hated type in mainstream American culture—traitor and betrayal.

Paramount and CAA are not idle, and they are also fighting back, attacking "Saving Private Ryan" for being too bloody, calling on the Parent-Teacher Association to boycott the film, and calling on teenagers in the United States not to watch such a bloody and cruel film.

This is just a microcosm of the fierce competition in Hollywood. The two sides are far more than talking about the media. For example, they will find suitable candidates to participate in the other party's preview meeting, so as to obtain first-hand information and formulate more targeted publicity strategies, etc. Wait.