Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 490 Film Wrap-up and Test Screening Rewards
In the afternoon, Sophie Marceau, Emmanuelle Béart, and Marion Cotillard visited the set. Link, who rarely finished his early shift, returned to the hotel to meet his girlfriends and also to see his two toddlers who were learning to walk.

While he was filming in Italy, the North American fall movie season arrived, and guess what? MGM has four movies releasing this fall, including "Harassment," "Final Destination 3," "Scream 2," and "A Bug's Life."

Harassment is a thriller film starring James Marsden, Katie Holmes, William Sadler, and others.

The film was released in mid-September and has been in theaters for seven weeks, with a North American box office of $16.5 million, which is a mediocre performance.

Final Destination 3 was released in early October and has been in theaters for five weeks. It has grossed $6807 million in North America. The film cost $2100 million to produce, making it a blockbuster, but its box office performance is much worse than the first two films.

Scream 2 was released just before Halloween and grossed $6735 million in North America over three weeks. The first film in the series grossed $1.1 million in North America. Compared to the first film, the sequel is slightly inferior in terms of both critical acclaim and box office performance, but it will still be a blockbuster.

"A Bug's Life" is the second animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It tells the story of a group of tiny ants who, in order to escape the colonial rule of locusts and fight for the freedom of their home, team up with a few rookie insects in a circus to fight against the bullying locusts.

The film cost $6500 million to produce.

It grossed $5150 million in 2686 theaters in its opening week, becoming the top-grossing film of the week.

The North American box office is expected to be no less than $1.5 million.

It was clearly a box office hit.

After the opening weekend box office results for "A Bug's Life" were released, Pixar's stock price also rose steadily, from $38 to $42. Although it did not reach the peak of $53, the increase in Pixar's stock price was good news for shareholders and the company.

Link and Flash Capital also took the opportunity to release some of the shares they had bought back in the past few months, earning tens of millions of dollars.

Guess what? In September and October, several MGM films released during the summer season continued to see box office growth.

Among them, "Tomorrow Never Dies" has grossed over $300 million in North America, bringing its total to $3.05 million, and $7.24 million worldwide. It is expected to gross over $800 million worldwide.

Thanks to this movie, guess what? MGM's debt situation has eased, and the company no longer needs to worry about paying high interest rates.

The box office of films such as "Rush Hour 2", "There's Something About Mary", and "Dumb and Dumber" continues to grow. Among them, "As Good As It Is", which was released in early August, has surpassed $100 million in North American box office, reaching $130 million, and its ranking on the annual box office chart continues to rise.

In addition, Link's "Armageddon" has grossed $2.82 million in North America and $3.58 million overseas, and its global box office performance is expected to be not much worse than "Tomorrow Never Dies".

Compared to MGM's Guess What, other film companies performed poorly at the box office. The total box office revenue of Universal Pictures, Paramount, Fox, and others in the first half of the year was less than the combined box office revenue of "007" and "Rush Hour 2".

In order to save their companies and keep their jobs, several film company presidents decided to follow the example of Columbia Pictures and Disney and take the initiative to cooperate with Guess What - MGM.

The Los Angeles Times commented that the six major film studios took a step back and no longer positioned themselves on par with Guess the Movies.

This drastically changed the landscape of Hollywood, transforming it from a competitive environment among the seven major studios to one centered around MGM, with the other six studios competing against each other, while smaller film companies struggled to survive in the cracks.

Guess what? MGM has become the undisputed king of the North American film industry.
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"cut!"

After filming the scene where Ripley kills Dick, Link called a pause and reviewed the footage carefully.

This scene is one of the climaxes of the film and a major turning point in Ripley's life. Therefore, it must be taken seriously and meticulously filmed. If it is filmed too loosely and the quality is too poor, the effect after its release will definitely be unsatisfactory.

To ensure Matt Damon and Jude Law delivered their best performances, Link was extremely demanding during filming, shooting one scene twelve times, to the point that Matt Damon nearly broke down.

Seeing Matt Damon break down, Link knew the scene was a success.

In the film, Ripley's killing of Dick was not entirely a premeditated murder; there were also certain accidental elements.

He loved Dick and enjoyed his life, but in order to maintain it, he had to kill Dick, who was trying to destroy it.

When making a move, one's mental state is often chaotic, and one is on the verge of collapse.

Matt Damon's portrayal of a breakdown and chaos on screen significantly elevated the quality of the film.

"pass!"

Link shouted.

The staff on site breathed a sigh of relief.

Only Matt Damon remained seated on the yacht deck, his face blank and bewildered, utterly lost.

"He's really immersed himself in it."

Julie Delpy held a juice glass, slurping up pomegranate juice with a playful smile on her face.

"Matt was too ruthless; he almost strangled me to death."

Jude Law touched his neck, still shaken.

After reviewing the footage, Link looked at Matt Damon and asked, "Matt, are you alright?"

He called out twice before Matt Damon snapped out of his daze, blinked blankly, and gave a stiff smile. "I'm fine, nothing's wrong, just a little tired." "Okay, take a half-hour break, then we'll continue filming."

With Matt Damon in good form, Link and the crew worked overtime to finish filming the movie before December.

During filming, Ben Affleck visited the set and took the opportunity to travel in Italy.

However, upon arriving at the film set, he noticed that Matt Damon's eyes were gloomy, his expression was serious, and even his tone of voice had changed, becoming unlike the Matt Damon he knew.

Ben Affleck inwardly cursed. Having worked with Link five or six times, he knew better than anyone how twisted Link's methods of training actors were.

Sometimes, in order to make a good film, he would use various methods to get the actors into character and make them so immersed in the role that they couldn't extricate themselves.

In more serious cases, it can cause actors to develop mental illnesses.

Matt Damon's current state is clearly due to Link's rigorous training, to the point that he's become so immersed in the role that he can't extricate himself from it.

"Matt, do you still recognize me? I'm Ben, your best friend. I've come to see you."

Ben Affleck said with a sad expression.

Matt Damon rolled his eyes at him. "I was just getting into character, not losing my mind or my memory. You don't need to remind me like that."

Despite Matt's words, Ben Affleck remained unconvinced.

Matt used to be a very straight man who didn't like to roll his eyes at people, but now he makes this rather feminine expression quite naturally.

He couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. Had Matt been turned gay by this character?
“Matt, why don’t we stop acting? You’re a popular star now, and many production teams are asking you to be the male lead. You don’t lack roles. You don’t need to develop a mental illness for this role. It will be very detrimental to your future development.”

"What nonsense are you talking about? This is Link's movie. Although I've worked with him a few times, this time he's the real male lead. How can I give up such a good opportunity?"

Before Ben Affleck could continue, Matt Damon waved his hand, saying he had to film and would talk to him later. He then put on his black-rimmed glasses and went to the set to film.

Ben Affleck watched his retreating figure, shaking his head helplessly. He realized that Matt Damon was more similar to Ripley in the film—equally gloomy and ambitious, all thanks to Link's behind-the-scenes manipulation.

Ben Affleck glanced at Link in the crowd and thought it wasn't unreasonable for the guy to have been assassinated.
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Link and the crew worked overtime in Italy for more than two months, and in early December, they finished filming all the scenes for "The Talented Mr. Ripley," marking the end of filming.

After filming, Link took the crew back to Los Angeles to continue editing in the film studio.

I also attended a preview screening of "Pirates of the Caribbean".

The internal screening of "Pirates of the Caribbean" was a great success. After the film ended, the guests burst into enthusiastic applause and cheers. Many producers exclaimed "Fantastic!" "Perfect!" "The best pirate movie!" "The best Captain Jack Sparrow!" and so on.

Michael Ovitz was so excited that his face turned red. He held Link's hand and kept praising him, saying that he was a genius director, a god-like director.

No one in the world but him could make such a magical, magnificent, and exquisite fantasy film.

The system also gave this movie a relatively high rating.

Since he wrote the script, he also served as the general producer, general director, and executive screenwriter. His involvement in the film reached 75.5%, the film's completion rate was 98.5%, and the film's market compatibility was 92%.

The system rewards are also more generous than for the previous two films, including 2.9 times the box office subsidy, 20% more director experience, 20% more director stamina, and 16% more film quality.

After receiving the boost, Link clenched his fist, his body noticeably becoming even stronger.

After the test screening, Link took the film reel to his personal studio to watch it again, to see what changes had occurred in the film that had received a 16% quality improvement. At the same time, he took out his notebook to study and learn from the experience, preparing for shooting similar films in the future.

dong dong dong~
"Link, it's time to go home."

Just as Link was about to finish his work, Liu Xiaoli's sweet and gentle voice came from outside the door.

"come in!"

Link took off his headphones and stretched.

Are you sure you want to leave work? Or not stay here overnight?

Liu Xiaoli teased him with a smile.

The woman was dressed in a sexy office lady outfit. Her blouse revealed her heavy figure and the deep, white cleavage between the collar. The straight skirt hugged her perfectly proportioned waist and hips, making her curves full and perky. The flesh-colored stockings on her calves looked particularly alluring.

She smelled wonderful and looked very appetizing.

Behind Liu Xiaoli followed Aishwarya, a woman with a beautiful face and a voluptuous figure.

Sharing a room with two beauties, Link wasn't in a hurry to leave. He smiled gently, closed the door, and resumed his work at his desk amidst Liu Xiaoli's complaints and Aishwarya's laughter.

(End of this chapter)