Chapter 396: A natural outcome, new movie rewards

Charlize Theron misunderstood that Link had no intention of pursuing her.

Since 1993, he has not actively pursued any woman.

First, there is no physical or emotional need for it. Second, time is limited, and it is more cost-effective to spend time on movies than on women.

The women around him were not pursued by him, but were attracted by his charm, took the initiative to approach him, and were finally conquered by him, becoming addicted to him and unable to extricate themselves.

The same thing happened with Charlize Theron. After meeting her on set, Link invited her to dinner at his apartment, and Charlize agreed.

After the meal, Link invited her to watch a movie in the home theater and talk about movies, and Charlize agreed. Then they hugged and kissed, and the girl did not refuse.

After the kiss, the blonde beauty's face flushed, her eyes were blurry, and she leaned into his arms and refused to let go.

What happened next was a natural progression.

Although Charlize Theron is tall, 177 cm tall, with a leg length of 103 cm, and has practiced ballet for several years, her physique and flexibility are better than those of ordinary women.

But her performance afterwards was not much better than that of Jodie Foster, Emmanuelle and others.

The next day, Link got up early to go to the crew for filming. By the way, he called Sam and asked him to ask for leave for Charlize Theron because she was not feeling well and could not go to the crew to prepare for her role today.

Sam Haskell didn't ask for the specific reason and agreed directly.

After arriving at the crew, Link continued filming the final court trial scene of "Primal Fear".

This scene was rehearsed for four days, and after the last shot was filmed, the film was declared completed.

"Primal Fear" started filming at the end of May and took nearly two months to shoot, with a total of 118 scenes and 637 shots. It was officially wrapped up in late July.

After filming the movie, Link and the crew returned to Los Angeles to rest.

——

By late July, competition at the box office in the North American film market remained fierce.

This week's box office champion is the new movie "A Time to Kill" released by Warner Bros., a thriller crime film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Samuel Jackson, Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock.

It tells the story of Carl Lee, a black man who killed two white people who raped his daughter and then chose to turn himself in. Lawyer Jack and law student Ellen prepared to defend his innocence from the perspectives of law and humanity. Finally, with the joint efforts of several people, Carl Lee was found not guilty.

This is a movie that aims to eliminate racial discrimination and has positive energy.

The first week box office was 28.31 million US dollars.

The runner-up was the action film "The Mask of Zorro" released by Columbia Pictures.

The film is based on the novel by police reporter Johnston Macaulay and tells the story of Zorro, a knight in the American West.

Produced by Guess What Films, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Antonio Banderas and others.

The movie was released in mid-July and took in $20.77 million this week, bringing its two-week total to $58.63 million.

The film cost $65 million to produce. Judging from the current box office data, the film's North American box office will be no less than $100 million, making it a blockbuster movie.

In addition, the leading actress Catherine Zeta-Jones performed well in the film. After the film was released, she was praised by many film critics and fans for her wonderful performance and classical British style appearance, and was named "the most beautiful British actress" by "People" magazine.

The only thing that's unsatisfactory is her relationship with Link.

Many media outlets advised her not to get too close to Link, and that a good girl like her should stay away from Playboys.

The third place this week is "Independence Day", with box office revenue of 18.17 million US dollars. The cumulative box office in four weeks has reached 213 million US dollars. It is also the second movie this year with a North American box office of more than 200 million.

"The Fifth Element" dropped to fifth place, earning $8.46 million this week and a total of $76.37 million in five weeks. The North American box office is expected to be around 90 million.

"Net" earned $4.33 million this week, bringing its North American box office total to $175 million.

"Batman Forever" earned $2.71 million and has a cumulative box office of $291 million. It is expected to become the first movie this year to gross more than $300 million before the end of the summer.

As there are still many commercial blockbusters at this stage, and all of them are from the Big Eight film studios, the films released by independent film companies still have no improvement at the box office. Many independent filmmakers have publicly declared that independent films are about to face their doomsday.

Many justice-loving filmmakers have also publicly criticized the Big Eight Film Studios, accusing them of over-promoting films and not giving independent films the opportunity to be exposed. They have also accused the Big Eight of scheduling too many films, etc.

But this time Guess the Movies received less criticism.

The reason is that the movies released by Guess What Pictures performed poorly this year.

As of July, among the seven films distributed by Guess What Pictures, only "Net" has broken the $100 million North American box office, "Dangerous Game" currently has $90.48 million, and "Hachiko: A Dog's Story" has $75.63 million. The box office of other films are very average.

Guess What Pictures didn't make any money, so it certainly shouldn't be criticized.

However, after the media discovered that Guess the Movie's box office performance was sluggish, they began to make sarcastic remarks, saying that Guess the Movie was on the decline and it would be difficult to maintain the growth pace of the previous two years.

In response to this, Guess the Movies did not make any comment and just quietly promoted the new movie.

The company will have two more films released in the later part of the summer vacation, "Rush Hour" and "Final Destination 2" starring Chen Long.

Compared with the previous two months, there are fewer blockbusters released in August, but the competition is still fierce. How these two films will perform at the box office and whether they can achieve good results still needs to be tested by the market.

——

After Link returned to Los Angeles, he began editing the film and took time out to attend an internal screening of "The English Patient".

The film was completed in December last year and post-production was completed in April. After watching it, Link was not satisfied with the sound effects, so he sent it back for redoing, and the second production was completed in June.

The preview of "The English Patient" was very successful. After the screening, those who attended the preview gave the film extremely high praise.

Jodie Foster, Monica Bellucci, Sofia Coppola, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder are all literary young women who love literary films the most. This movie really hits their sweet spots. Several of them said it was the best love movie they had ever seen, even better than last year's "The Bridges of Madison County."

Jodie Foster expressed regret for not pestering him for a role and offered to star in his next romantic film.

Winona and the others also had the same idea.

Daniel DeVito, James Schamus, Joe Fillem and others also spoke highly of the film, believing it to be a classic love movie. However, the male and female protagonists of this film are not very famous in North America, and the box office data is difficult to estimate, but it is approximately between US$100 million and US$200 million.

At the end of the film screening, Link also received a systematic evaluation.

[The film has been produced and the box office subsidies are being calculated...]

[Host participation is 71.3%, film completion is 97.7%, and film-market compatibility is 88%]

[Rewards: 2.4 times the box office subsidy; Director experience +20%; Director physical fitness +20%; Film quality increase +18%]

"Link, how could you make a movie like this?"

As Link was checking the rewards, Quentin Tarantino came over with a complicated expression.

"What's wrong with the movie? You don't like it?"

Link asked.

Quentin stared at him with eyes full of resentment, the muscles on his face standing up with envy and jealousy. He pointed at the big screen and said, "You used to make thrillers, and now you've just transformed and made The English Patient. Don't you think you've transformed too quickly?"

"What's wrong with being quick?"

Link asked confused.

Quentin snorted, "No problem, you're amazing, you're amazing, there's no better director in the world than you."

"I don't deserve it. I just worked harder in making movies. If you work harder, you will perform better. By the way, your new movie."

Before he could finish his words, Quentin waved his hand and walked away without looking back. Director Steven Soderbergh next to him was stunned. He shook his head and laughed, "Link, you are too good. It is very stressful to be in the same era as you. Quentin must be anxious."

"Me too."

Robert Rodriguez shrugged.

"There's no need to worry. Every director has his own style. I'm in a hurry to make movies. I can only make them better if I shoot faster. If it takes one or two years to make a movie, I don't have the patience. Sometimes I also hope I can shoot slower."

Link consoled.

"Link, stop talking. There is no director who doesn't want to make a movie quickly and well, but few people can do it, except you."

Robert said enviously.

Link smiled and turned to ask a few people about the preparations for the new movie.

Steven is preparing for a new movie, Out of the Blue, which will start shooting next month;

Robert is writing a new script, and the shooting start date is unknown;

Richard Linklater is currently working as an actor and has no plans to direct a new film.

Link said that the story of "Before Sunrise" is very good and it is possible to consider making a sequel.

Director Richard said he had the same idea.

After the preview, Link took the film back to the studio to watch and study, and to fill in the gaps.

The English Patient looks even better after receiving an 18% quality increase, taking it a notch above the original.

Especially in terms of detail processing, after the quality improvement, the film shots are more delicate and textured, which also invisibly improves the artistic content of the film.

Link plans to release the film at the end of the year and compete for the Best Director Oscar next year.

(End of this chapter)