Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 131 Good Reviews
"Michael, how's your interview going?"

Sitting on a bench outside the Grove Mall theater, Al Simmons fanned himself with his hat and called a colleague to ask about the interview.

Michael responded that audience reviews of the film were quite good and not as bad as expected.

"Why is this happening?"

Al Simmons explained his side of the story.

Today he randomly interviewed 32 audience members at the cinema entrance.

其中26人给《女巫布莱尔》打出60分以上评分，甚至有6人给出满分100分，仅有4位观众的评分低于及格线60分。

The ratings were significantly higher than expected.

"What are these guys doing? I've seen The Blair Witch Project, and it's clearly a very boring movie. Why do those guys say it's good after watching it? This doesn't make sense. Have they been bewitched by Link?"

Al Simmons complained over the phone.

"Haha, I know the reason. Do you want to know? If you buy me a drink, I'll tell you."

"You know? Tell me now. As long as you're right, I'll buy you two drinks."

“Al, did you ask about their educational background during the interview?”

“No. If you ask them about their educational background, most of the interviewees won’t tell the truth.”

"Haha, if they refuse to state their educational background, that also proves that they don't have a high level of education. Most of them haven't been to college, or even high school. If they have been to college, they would never mind answering your question."

"That's true. But what does this have to do with The Blair Witch Project?"

Al Simmons asked.

"The relationship is extremely close. Before the interview, I designed a questionnaire and invited the audience to fill it out. The survey results showed that 92% of the audience had an education level below high school, and many were even illiterate."

"illiteracy?"

“That’s right. These audiences are not well educated, which means their cognition and aesthetics are different from ours, and their evaluation of movies is also different.

In our eyes, "The Blair Witch Project" is not exciting enough, but in their eyes, this movie is easy to understand, simple and interesting, which just suits their taste.

In addition, people with low education levels are more likely to believe in gods, ghosts and witches. This is probably why we don’t understand why they like to watch "The Blair Witch Project".

"So that's it."

Al Simmons suddenly realized.

Before, he looked at things from his own perspective and didn't understand why those audiences liked pretentious movies like "The Blair Witch Project".

Now it seems that it is not their fault, but the cognitive differences caused by the different education levels of both parties.

Just as ordinary people do not understand sculpture art, pop art, and surrealism, and just as smart people do not understand why ordinary people are easily cheated by scammers.

Everyone lives in different environments and has different levels of education, which leads to different ways of thinking and different understandings of things.

This is the knowledge gap theory.

"Hey, Al, are you satisfied with my answer? Don't forget to buy me a drink."

"No problem. Do you still have your questionnaire? Leave me a copy. I also want to do a survey. If it is really what you said, this is undoubtedly very valuable news."

After hanging up the phone, Al Simmons continued to interview the audience. After realizing the existence of the "knowledge gap", he became more patient and serious during the interview and would not get angry easily.

When the media interviewed the audience about their views on "The Blair Witch Project", in addition to Robert Downey Jr., stars such as Dustin Hoffman, Kiefer Sutherland, and David Duchovny publicly praised the film.

Those who say this movie is great and criticize it as bad just didn't understand it.

Even at the film launch of "Someone's Back", Richard Gere, while answering reporters' questions, praised "The Blair Witch Project" with a smile on his face, saying it was interesting and worth watching.

He doesn't seem to mind that The Blair Witch Project outperformed his movies at the box office.

These people's answers left the media puzzled, and they couldn't understand why these big stars would suddenly stand up and praise a movie that was not worthy of praise.

Some media suspected that all this was the idea of CAA agency.

Richard Gere and others are clients of CAA. Without the company's tacit consent, they would not endorse a movie at the same time.

The media also speculated that "The Blair Witch Project" was a partner of CAA, and Ed Merrick was the director that CAA was preparing to promote. Perhaps this movie was planned by CAA from beginning to end.

Some media interviewed people from CAA, but CAA has not responded yet.

This also deepened the media's suspicion.

Link didn't quite understand after seeing the news. "Daniel, Jon, why are they helping to promote The Blair Witch Project? Did you pay them to help?"

"Haha, no, these people don't get along with you, the boss. They know I'm from Guess What? Pictures. Even if we pay them, they won't help promote the movie."

Jon Gordon shrugged and laughed.

"Indeed it is."

Daniel DeVito sat back in his chair, his belly against the edge of his desk. "We guess they're coming for you. After Paranormal Activity became a big hit, you became the representative of low-budget directors, the holder of the highest box office revenue ratio record in film history, and are considered the most promising director in Hollywood.

Not everyone likes these labels, at least your opponents such as Robert Downey Jr. and Richard Gere will not like them. They see that "The Blair Witch Project" is a big hit and has the potential to break the box office record of "Paranormal Activity".

In this case, they thought that by touting The Blair Witch Project and Ed Merrick, they could steal the spotlight from you, the boss, and that was probably their goal.”

"Sounds interesting."

Link smiled with the corners of his mouth curled up.

"Boss, should we reveal the truth and surprise them?"

Jon Gordon asked with a look of mischief.

"No. Our purpose of filming The Blair Witch Project is to make money. We should not do anything that goes against this purpose. They are willing to help promote the film, which is great. Don't stop them. In addition, out of courtesy, thank them publicly and praise them for being good people."

"Yes, boss!"

After the release of "Paranormal Activity", his colleagues in the industry were envious and jealous of him.

If they knew that "The Blair Witch Project" was also directed by him, his colleagues would probably become jealous to the point of going crazy, and might even do something irrational.

The media will realize that they have been fooled and may become angry and criticize him even more vigorously.

He will never be able to gain a foothold in Hollywood in the future, just like the two directors of the original "The Blair Witch Project", who disappeared after filming "The Blair Witch Project" and have not produced any subsequent works.

So Link won't publicly acknowledge any connection to Blair Witch.

(End of this chapter)