The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 1455 Misplaced Emphasis
Anson curled up quietly and softly in the corner, not in a hurry. He hid his existence contentedly in the hustle and bustle and indifference of New York.

He picked up the book he had just read and slowly flipped through it, but the thoughts in his mind were still surging, and he tried to sort them out.

Now, Anson was finally able to confirm the identities of both Jon and Scott.

All because of the movie "Rebound".

It's not because the movie was so successful. In fact, Anson has not seen the movie, but has heard of it, because it was a turning point in Martin Lawrence's career.

In 1995, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith co-starred in "Bad Boys", which was a huge success and changed the industry.

Some people may be curious, “Bad Boys” doesn’t seem to be particularly funny or popular, so why did it become a cultural phenomenon back then?
The reason lies in the background of the times. From Rodney King to OJ Simpson, racial issues continued to intensify in Los Angeles in the early 1990s. In particular, the image of white police officers was so bad that black people refused to cooperate. Even the law enforcement of black police officers encountered huge obstacles, creating many social problems.

The two protagonists of "Bad Boys" are not only black, but also police officers. Moreover, while they are capable of joking, laughing, and scolding, they also have the ability to solve problems. Martin Lawrence and Will Smith have created two police officers who are approachable and willing to stop and listen to the problems of ordinary people.

This was an important breakthrough, similar to the success of "Beverly Hills Cop" in the 1980s, but it went a step further in the context of the times, and had a huge impact on the cultural and social levels. Not only was it a huge box office success, but it also performed exceptionally well in the subsequent DVD rental market.

The careers of Martin Lawrence and Will Smith reached new peaks at this moment, and of course, Will became a box office superstar in one fell swoop.

After Denzel Washington, Will Smith unexpectedly took up the banner of leadership for black actors.

Although Martin could not match Weir's success, he remained active in the Hollywood front line for the next decade until "Rebound".

"Rebound", with an investment of 33 million US dollars, ended up with a global cumulative box office of only 17 million US dollars. It is rumored that 20th Century Fox lost nearly 30 million US dollars.

After all, the cost of publicity and promotion must also be included in the cost.

All trust and expectations vanished, and Martin's appeal as the film's leading actor was questioned by the entire Hollywood.

Thus, "Rebound" became Martin's last film in which he played a leading role.

Later, although he was still able to get projects and roles, no producer was willing to give him the leading role, and he completely lost his credibility.

It wasn't until the distant 2018, when "Bad Boys 3" was rebooted, that the semi-retired Martin returned to the protagonist position.

Undoubtedly, "rebound" is an important turning point.

The two co-writers of "Rebound" are Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.

Following the "rebound", Anson finally awakened the memory dormant deep in his brain.

Like Eric and Mackie, Jon and Scott are also a screenwriting duo, and they are basically inseparable; but the slight difference is that Eric and Mackie have never created any scripts worth mentioning after "The Butterfly Effect", but Jon and Scott have not stopped.

After the great success of "The Hangover", Jon and Scott seemed to have received a golden ticket to immortality. They created a series of works, "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past", "Four Happiness", and "Two Men in the Wrong Body", all of which were comedies. Although the box office was not particularly hot, it was not bad. The reason is that the production cost of comedy movies is not high overall, and the demand for comedy in the film market always exists objectively. The top film companies in the pyramid produce a batch of comedy works every year. This is an environment that science fiction movies do not have, which provides Jon and Scott with a living soil.

Later, Jon and Scott further transformed themselves into directors, taking on both directing and screenwriting work, including "21 Years Old Party", "Bad Moms", and "A Bad Moms Christmas". Although they have never become a big star, they have still occupied a place in Hollywood in their own way.

When talking about "Bad Moms", the images of the two directors and screenwriters in Anson's mind gradually became clear; but a small surprise was that "The Hangover" was also their work. Anson's impression of Todd Phillips was so deep that he completely forgot the two screenwriters' contribution to this movie.

After organizing his thoughts, Anson did not act in a hurry. Instead, he picked up the script and read it carefully. The coming and going of people in the coffee shop were completely isolated from him. Anson immersed himself in the story and felt the surprise all over again.

I have to say, even though I have seen the movie in my previous life, I still couldn't help but smile when I read the script.

The real strength of "The Hangover" is not how funny the lines or plot are, but the whole situation.

An absurd and outrageous situation, which is completely possible to happen in reality, is created by adding some artistic dramatic tension, and then the characters are thrown into this situation. Even the most direct and simplest reaction has a sense of absurdity, and the extravagant city of Las Vegas and its isolated environment in the desert make everything convincing.

This sense of dislocation between drama and reality is the funniest thing.

Therefore, the most realistic question facing us is:
In its previous life, "The Hangover" was released in 2009 and eventually created a box office miracle; now, if it is released earlier in 2005 or 2006, can it replicate the box office success?
Everything is unknown. Although Anson cannot predict the future, his intuition and reason both give a positive answer. The success of this movie has nothing to do with the year 2009. The key lies in the power of the movie itself.

So Anson called Lucas's cell phone and explained the situation.

After finishing his eloquent explanation, there was silence on the other end of the line. Lucas did not respond for a long time. Anson could not help but look at his phone.

Is it a signal problem?
"Luka?" Anson called out.

"...I thought you were on vacation." Lucas' voice finally came.

Anson was about to make a joke, but was interrupted by Lucas calmly, "Anson, these things should not be handled by you, either Edgar, me, or even Noah, they should not disturb you casually."

"Besides, you're on vacation."

"If something like this happens once, it will happen again. There are so many hyenas in Hollywood who are eyeing you covetously. If they know about this, they will definitely not let you go in the future. You are too busy to handle it. We will not allow this to happen."

Clearly, Lucas's focus is very different from Anson's.

Anson's attempts to explain were interrupted several times, and he finally gave up and waited for Lucas to finish his words. However, he couldn't help laughing out loud when he thought about the whole situation.

The more I think about it, the funnier it gets, so the more I laugh, the happier I become.

(End of this chapter)