Chapter 49 Undercurrent

Seeing such a title, Su Yun couldn't help but sigh that gossip reporters are indeed creatures with the ability to make up stories that transcend time and space...

"Hasn't the area been cleared by then?" Su Yun asked doubtfully: Kubrick's requirements for clearing the area were quite strict, and nothing had leaked out until now. I didn't expect something like this to suddenly happen.

Perhaps this is what is meant by "even the wisest man can make mistakes". In an outdoor environment, no matter how strict the precautions are, there is always a chance of error.

"I don't know where they are hiding. Although the density of the vegetation in the forest is not high enough for our needs, it is enough for them to hide." This sudden news made Kubrick, who has a strong desire for control, very distressed.

"But fortunately, it is very easy to clarify this false news." Su Yun smiled.

Although this gossip newspaper slandered both Jane Fonda's character and Su Yun's skin color - but precisely because of the difference in skin color, it was very easy to clarify.

This newspaper is also a tabloid that is not worthy of being published on the big stage, but it was able to go against the wind when the anti-war wave was in full swing. It is estimated that the people behind it are from the faction that were dissatisfied with Jane Fonda's previous promotion of anti-war activities.

Once the truth is clarified, it will be free publicity delivered to your door.

This is how it is in this industry. You’re not afraid of being scolded, you’re just afraid of no one scolding you.

Black and red are of course also considered red, but if you get to the point where you don't even have any black pieces, then you have completely flopped.

Even though the director, Kushen, has raised the connotation of the film, Su Yun is still looking at "Artificial Intelligence" mainly from the perspective of a commercial film, and the most important performance of a commercial film is the box office. Therefore, what needs to be done now is to try to attract attention whenever possible, and it will be a win if the audience can be tricked into the theater.

Once the money is in hand, no one cares whether the audience praises or curses in anger.

Considering that this was a wave of free publicity, even Jane Fonda, the person who was actually targeted, just laughed it off: "In the past, they would hold up signs and call me 'Hanoi Jane' while marching, and I could survive it, let alone now with just false reports like this.

"Let them continue their activities for a while. Then I will bring Lulu out and everything will be cleared up."

Kubrick was very pleased with Jane Fonda's understanding, and since the filming had been going smoothly recently, he generously gave her a day off to rest.

They said it was a rest, but in fact it was just an excuse out of sympathy for Jane Fonda who had been out filming for several weeks and was worried that she would miss her family.

Jane Fonda thanked Kubrick, packed her belongings, and prepared to go home to visit her family.

Su Yun glanced at Jane Fonda's back from afar: The stars of this era are really simple. Each of them travels with just a bag, a diary, a small notebook, and a few pens.

Such simplicity yet top-notch professional level. Compared with the so-called "stars" in the entertainment industry of later generations who are surrounded by a large group of assistants and nannies and who act all the time except when filming, the difference is more than just professional level.

As it was a rare day that she didn't have any scenes to perform, Su Yun quickly threw herself into her career in the late stages of liver disease.

After a lot of hard work, the first half of the animation of Teddy Bear at home was finally completed. The next part, where the little robot takes Teddy Bear on a roaming trip, was because the outdoor scene had not been completed yet, so I had to switch to other work first.

The plot of "Artificial Intelligence" is relatively easy to understand among Kubrick's films. It is expected that when it is released, it will not be as controversial as Kubrick's previous film "A Clockwork Orange", which almost failed at the box office.

In addition to Kubrick's desire to make a commercial film during this period, the various discussions he had with Su Yun during the filming period were also a major factor influencing the direction of the plot.

As we all know, Kubrick angered more than one original author because of his disrespectful adaptations during filming; but in the end, it was often his adaptations that enjoyed the audience and made them appreciate them to the point of becoming classics.

Initially, Kubrick discussed the issue of revising the ending with Su Yun.

The ending of the script given by Su Yun is set 2000 years later when ice and ocean rule the earth. A life form suspected to be an alien accidentally finds a small frozen robot on the desolate earth. Because it is a precious archaeological resource, it fulfills the wish of the small robot and allows the small robot's adoptive mother to be resurrected for one day through resonance retrospection technology.

On this day of reunion after waiting for two thousand years, the little robot finally got the "only" love he had always dreamed of from his adoptive mother Monica.

Afterwards, just as her foster mother fell asleep, she also finally fell into an endless "sleep"...

It seems warm and "gainful", but it still permeates the Kubrick-style essence of trying one's best but still failing in the end.

But this kind of warmth did not initially apply to Kubrick, the old bastard who made people love and hate him.

Before the filming of the finale had begun, Kubrick proposed a new idea to Su Yun: the world is also destroyed by humans beyond the year 2000, and after a small artificial intelligence robot is reawakened by a life form that seems to be an alien, in a world where there are no more humans, it realizes for the first time that it is an artificial intelligence - so, when the audience looks at everything and themselves from a non-human perspective for the first time, what kind of experience will it be?

Not only did he come up with this idea, he even drew two versions of the storyboard.

Because he was thinking, what if those life forms that looked like aliens were not aliens at all, but evolved artificial intelligence life forms or new humans...

Thus, we get two completely different, yet equally cruel branches:

"What is that? Is it water seeping into the body? I remember reading in the historical data... we have completely repaired you..." Looking at the watery light in the little robot's eyes, the suspected alien life form asked this question, thinking of this artificial intelligence little robot that had been dormant in the seabed for three thousand years.

The little robot shook its head: "No."

"Tears."

"These are the tears of the last 'human' on Earth."

After reading this ending, Su Yun turned to the next page. The words were almost the same, but the meaning of the previous ending was completely reversed by changing a few word orders and answers.

"What is that? Tears? I remember reading in the historical records... We have completely restored you..."

"No."

"It's just water seepage from the body."

"Even two thousand years from now, artificial intelligence... will still not have tears."

Compared to the open ending with a touch of fairy-tale warmth in the original script, the use of a mountain of glass shards on one page and a rain of blunt knives on the next is obviously more in line with Kubrick's consistent style.

Considering that Kubrick's style is indeed more cruel and indifferent, Su Yun really performed for him and created the scene effects of the dialogue between the small robot and the suspected alien life form.

As a result, after watching the two versions of scenes that Su Yun worked overtime to create, Kubrick voluntarily gave up on these two adaptation ideas.

So he got Su Yun's look that said "he put forward a lot of opinions but in the end he had to go back to the first version to mess with Party A."

"You said, these last ones..." He pointed at the positions of the suspected alien life forms on the screen, "Are they aliens? Or are they 'new humans' evolved from robots, replacing the original carbon-based society with a society composed of silicon-based life forms?"

"To be honest, I don't know, and I don't want to find out." Su Yun thought for a moment and said, "Sometimes, the meaning of life lies in being confused."

"I just wanted to trick the audience into the cinema with a story that seemed fun and attractive." Finally, Su Yun honestly expressed her true original intention for making the movie.

She is not the kind of person who requires people to read, understand and analyze a piece of writing called "It's Dawn". Most of the time, she is just bringing a story to the screen, giving the text fantasy a light and shadow art embodiment.

Because she has a long-term goal that will not and cannot be noticed by others from now on and in the future until she succeeds.

Hearing this, Kubrick raised his eyebrows.

While using the original ending, he came up with a brilliant idea: "When you release the video, put the two 'endings' you made before in it. With this gimmick, you should be able to make some money."

Facing Su Yun's gaze that "this era has this kind of profiteer's money-making tricks of selling split endings", Kubrick was very straightforward: "Didn't I say that this movie was made as a commercial film?"

Commercial films and art films, even if they are slightly integrated, are still different in essence.

"I also want to know what other people think of this 'completely un-Kubrick' ending of the movie." Kubrick winked slyly. "People who know me probably think that I will let this 'Pinocchio' robot commit suicide in despair."

But he refused to do so. Not only did he hide many clues that could accurately guide the character's fate, but he also changed the ending to be warm and gentle, completely subverting his previous self.

Because he thought of the issue about racial boundaries that he had once discussed with Su Yun.

It's not like he hasn't made commercial films before, but this one, in which he sheds his aloof pride and steps down from the altar to get closer to ordinary people, now has more significance than just another film in his filmmaking career.

Magnifying the context of time and space, "Artificial Intelligence," a film about the future world and future technology, may become a scene or a turning point in the movie of life, marking the critical starting point of an era legend that transcends all boundaries.

Who says a person’s life can’t be a “movie” with ups and downs?

Perhaps the reason why God is called God is because his thoughts are crazy and great enough, and they transcend the limitations of time and space.

Therefore, under the silent night sky, the two, big and small, achieved a tacit yet harmonious and unified goal.

Unfortunately, even if there are people in this world who are willing to change themselves to make the world a better place, there will naturally be dirty people who are as dark as sewer bugs and will hurt others for the sake of partial benefits.

"Kubrick is still hanging out with those yellow monkeys."

"I should have known that. That guy is a lunatic and a traitor. Otherwise, he wouldn't have abandoned his motherland and settled abroad for 'freedom'."

"Those yellow monkeys are from Hong Kong, just like Bruce the Kung Fu fighter. They are from Hong Kong and the UK, so they are pretty much mixed together."

"It's useless to say more here. Has the diary taken out of the mental hospital been handed over to Hanoi Jane?"

"I have bribed someone to secretly give it to her. She is the protagonist of the movie. If anything goes wrong with her, the movie will definitely not go on..."

"That's for sure..." Kubrick took the risk to bring in Jane Fonda, wasn't it just to let her, the former movie queen, be the protagonist and use the name of a co-production to lead those yellow monkeys?

Once Kubrick is dealt with, the next step is to deal with Bruce's "Tiger Fights: Revenge of the Dragon".

Thinking of this, those people wearing black cloaks and hiding in the dark laughed secretly.

The dim candlelight reflected the swaying black shadows, and the words "White Supremacy" and "The War Never Stops" on the wall also disappeared into the darkness again with the swaying light and shadows.