The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 1490 Ignored
"At that time, he was still a little immature."

"You can see that he has some immature ideas, but the production company restricts his hands and feet. His youth and immaturity will turn into hesitation, uncertainty, and he can't figure out his own ideas. These hesitations appear in the movie, so the movie seems to have no edges."

"Moreover, working with these big-name actors, he was a young new director who had just come to Hollywood from Mexico, which was equivalent to a mercenary. He had basically no say. His personal mark was minimal in the film, and his personal expression as a director was almost invisible."

“However, in his next work, he found the direction.”

Speak slowly and fluently.

From these details, we can see that Jeff really loves movies. His enthusiasm and dedication are not possessed by most producers.

After all, as product managers, producers often only see benefits, benefits, and benefits. Even movies are no different in essence from other products.

However, Jeff was different.

Anson, feeling like he was at the New York Film Festival, took the opportunity to say, "'Same with your mother.'"

Jeff's eyes showed a hint of surprise, "Oh, you know this movie?"

of course!

"Y Tu Mamá tín" is the first work of Alfonso Cuarón that truly entered the public eye. It was not only shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Venice Film Festival, but also received a large number of nominations for Best Foreign Language Film such as the Golden Globe Awards, the British Academy Film Awards, the Los Angeles Film Festival, etc., and was finally nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

This also became Alfonso's stepping stone to truly enter Hollywood's vision——

Of course, Anson now knows that Alfonso had entered Hollywood to shoot "Great Expectations" three years ago, but as Jeff said, 20th Century Fox at the time only regarded Alfonso as a mercenary. It was a job, not a creation, and changing the director would make no difference.

But after “Your Mom, Too,” things were completely different.

Jeff patted his head and said, "Of course you know. How could you not know? The whole of Hollywood knows that Anson Wood is a movie lover."

Anson laughed outright, "It looks like my PR guy has been working hard." This made Jeff laugh too, "It was this work that got Alfonso the job on 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban', right?"

Jeff nodded. “That’s not my opinion, but it’s true.”

"We have been looking for the positioning of Harry Potter. The previous works took the fairy tale route. Chris Columbus did a good job, but we can't always target the children's market. We can't compete with Disney. We need to distinguish ourselves from Disney fairy tales. It happens that the project of 'Prisoner of Azkaban' is particularly dark, and Dementors appear for the first time. We are considering whether we should break the style and routine of previous works and make some attempts."

So, there was the scene where Alfonso took over the directing baton.

“Unfortunately, it did not meet expectations.”

"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is the most popular film in the series. Not only did it receive rave reviews from film critics, but it also received applause from veteran movie lovers. However, the film did not meet market expectations, with family audiences saying it was "too scary," and the box office created a new low in the series.

Unfortunately, this became the only time Alfonso and "Harry Potter" collaborated, and the choice of directors for subsequent "Harry Potter" series became conservative.

It wasn't until twenty years later, when the reputation of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" continued to rise and became a unique existence in the series of films, that people realized how rare Alfonso's authorial expression was as a director.

Anson, "However, the film's reputation is a testament to the director's efforts in camera language."

Jeff shrugged slightly. "It's a shame that this won't be a box office number. I know, it's cruel and ugly, but that's Hollywood." Anson raised his chin slightly. "So this is why Warner Bros. shelved 'Children of Men'?"

Jeff, "No, 'Children of Men' was earlier. I don't remember the exact time, but it was definitely earlier than 'Prisoner of Azkaban'. However, from a certain perspective, your interpretation is not wrong. We don't believe this project can make money."

"How should I explain this?"

"It's like 'Blade Runner'. Twenty-two years have passed, and we all know it's a classic. There have been sporadic discussions within the company about whether we should reboot the series, whether it's a remake, a sequel, or a rewrite. It seems like a project worth trying."

"But the problem is that even with Harrison Ford behind the scenes, it still flopped at the box office and was heavily criticized by critics, so much so that Harrison Ford refused to take on science fiction films for a long, long time."

“This is the state of science fiction.”

"Genre movies have always had their place, and there are countless successful works. Did you know that the 'Terminator' series is going to shoot a sequel?"

"However, the positioning of science fiction movies is always vague, and they are divided into hard science fiction and soft science fiction. In fact, James Cameron filmed "Alien 2" and "Terminator 2" as disaster movies, which are not orthodox science fiction movies. But if it is hard-core science fiction, which really rises to the level of philosophical thinking, the audience may not buy it."

"The same is true for 'Children of Men'. It has potential, and 'Saving Private Ryan' is a good reference; but its core is soft science fiction, exploring the value of human existence and religious beliefs, and the tone of the style is so dark and painful that we don't think the market is willing to give such a movie a chance."

"Of course, the result of 'Prisoner of Azkaban' later proved our guess. Even the Harry Potter series was unable to reverse the situation."

Jeff spoke at his leisurely pace and without any airs, just like he was chatting with a friend.

Anson listened carefully. He had to admit that Jeff was right. "But what about 'The Passion of the Christ'?"

This year's controversial film, "The Passion of the Christ," has grossed over $600 million worldwide, breaking all records for R-rated films with a crushing force.

Jeff laughed directly, "So, are you going to push people's boundaries further?"

Anson raised his hands. "How dare you? I've been trying to be a popular actor, God knows."

Jeff laughed happily and changed the subject, "We also considered going the award season route, but... oh, you know, those old guys from the Oscars."

Anson understands——

Science fiction films are classified as commercial works.

Indeed, this is ridiculous, but in the eyes of the academic community, science fiction is a commercial film. The proud and noble Oscars refuse to give science fiction films a legitimate name. "Blade Runner", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Alien", "Terminator", "The Matrix", " Monkeys" and other works have nothing to do with the awards season.

In fact, science fiction has never won a Best Picture Oscar and is treated even worse than comedies.

In the future, the works closest to winning the Oscar are "Avatar" and "Gravity". Unfortunately, both works are still one step away.

Then, Jeff changed the subject, "Unless..."

(End of this chapter)