Staying in a hilltop mansion in the small town of Cannes, Simon has gradually sorted out the filming ideas of "Batman" these days.

Initial plans will begin with the production of a trilogy of single-player films called Nolan's Batman: Time to War, Batman: The Dark Knight, and Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. However, in terms of content, Simon intends to adopt a completely different plot setting, and through the appropriate interspersing with the "Superman" series, paving the prototype of the entire DC Cinematic Universe.

If you want to realize the cinematic universe plan, the beginning of the first part of "The Batman" is crucial.

Simon actually has a shortcut that is sure to succeed, and that is to use the Joker as the villain of the first series. As Batman's biggest rival and the most popular villain in the Batman series, in the original time and space, Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan, the pinnacle of the two versions of the "Batman" series, both use the Joker as the anti-one, and the Joker, Batman's lifelong enemy, does have irreplaceable popularity and status in both comics and reality.

However, after much deliberation, Simon gave up on this idea.

With the Joker enabled, the first part of the series had to have an atmospheric pattern to match. If the starting point of the story is too high, it will be difficult for the sequel to satisfy the audience's appetite, and it is easy to cause aesthetic fatigue by repeatedly saving Gotham and saving the world. Therefore, Simon intends to put the Joker as the final boss of the trilogy in the final episode.

As for the current opening, Simon does not intend to spend too much ink on Bruce Wayne's transformation into Batman, but starts with the run-in process with the whole city after Batman began to act chivalrous.

The sudden appearance of a vigilante in Sin City has caused a reaction and response from all walks of life, including the public, the media, the authorities, and criminals. At the same time, these subplots will all revolve around a high-concept storyline of good triumphing over evil. The villain appears, Batman defeats the villain, begins to gain the recognition of the city, and the story ends.

Simon hid in Cannes to write the script of "Batman", North America, and this year's film summer file officially opened in May.

On May 13, Paramount launched the seventh sequel to the classic horror film series "Friday the Thirteenth", which made Simon envy for 1,796 screens, earning $9.8 million in the first week. Although the box office fell far short of the producer's expectations, Paramount recouped most of its production and publicity budget in its first week compared to the film's ultra-low production cost of only $2.8 million.

In addition to "Friday the Thirteenth 7", the other two new films from independent producers did not make any waves, and the second place was "When Harry Met Sally", which is also the box office champion of "When Harry Meets Sally" eight weeks after its large-scale opening.

In the tenth week of its release, "When Harry Met Sally" collected another $6.13 million, with a cumulative box office of $90.12 million, and continued to move towards the 100 million yuan mark without any suspense.

Although Hollywood has always envied Daenerys Films for making the first film to break 100 million at the box office in 1988, Simon is not satisfied with this achievement. Paramount can arrange nearly 1,800 screens for a horror film with a production cost of only $2.8 million, and the number of screens failed to exceed 1,500 during the entire release of "When Harry Meets Sally", and the number of screens screened in the first few weeks of the golden box office harvest period was only a little more than 1,000, which made Simon strongly feel that the traditional forces of Hollywood are deeply wary and constrained by latecomers.

If "When Harry Met Sally" can get enough screen resources, the box office of this film will definitely have exceeded the threshold of 100 million yuan, instead of being stuck in the embarrassing figure of 90 million US dollars now. Although it is not difficult to break 100 million in the future, with the arrival of a series of new films in the summer file, the release scale and subsequent box office of "When Harry Met Sally" are destined to shrink rapidly.

Followed by.

On May 20, the first big-budget film of the summer season, "The Storm", a medieval fantasy film based on Western mythology and stories, was co-produced by MGM and Lucasfilm, using the most advanced special effects technology from a large number of industrial light and magic studios.

However, the $35 million blockbuster film had a poor reputation, with Variety magazine describing it as 'a medieval version of Star Wars mixed with myths and fables, with an old-fashioned story and lack of innovation'.

Due to the pessimism about the film's prospects, the distributor MGM only arranged 1,024 opening screens for "The Storm", which is not even as good as "Friday the 13th 7", not to mention the upcoming "Crocodile Dundee 2" and "First Blood 3", according to the distributor's public data, the two heavyweight new films are expected to open 2,800 and 2,500 screens respectively, such a scale once again shows the complete arrival of the era of full release.

It's a pity that as the most watched new film in this summer file, the expected number of screens for "Vulgar" is only about 1,500, and Simon has nothing to do about it, because this is already the limit of the screen that Orion Pictures can use.

Moreover, the critical reputation of "Vulgar" has also changed in the period since its Cannes premiere, especially in North America, where many well-known critics have criticized the film for its excessive violence and Simon's plagiarism of various classics.

The reason for this situation is actually obvious, too many people don't want to see "Vulgar" too successful.

Simon couldn't figure out who was getting in the way.

"Vulgar" will be released on June 3, and the week before it was Paramount Pictures' "Gator Dundee 2" and Columbia Pictures' Samsung label "Rambo 3", Fox's "Future Flight" and Warner's "Funny Farm" were released at the same time, and the following week there were Disney's "Four Daughters and Two Moms", Paramount's "Base Pussidy" and MGM's "Haunted 3".

In the past three weeks, just the new films that have been released, and the seven major film companies have gathered six. Even if it is a popular schedule, the total box office in a single week actually has a fixed number, and if you share more, others will naturally have less.

In this case, "Vulgar" happens to be the most striking of a whole bunch of new films, and even Simon himself will not hesitate to hit his rivals if he can.

Aware of this situation, Simon is no longer so optimistic about the results of this festival. Whether it is Simon himself or Orion, it is obvious that he cannot compete with the entire Hollywood Seven in terms of network resources, and others may just make a phone call, and the award may not be there.

It wasn't until May 22, the day before the closing ceremony of the film festival, that the organizer officially sent an application for retention to the award-winning crew, and it wasn't until he was actually notified by the organizer that Simon was completely relieved.

Monday, May 23rd.

On the last day of the festival, the main event during the day is the re-screening of all the nominated films in the main competition. At the same time, information about the retained crew also appeared in the local media in Cannes.

The crews of five of the 21 films in competition were retained: Simon's "Vulgar," Clint Eastwood's "Rookie Parker," Kieślowski's "Murder Shorts," Fernando Solanas' "The South," and Chris Mengus' "The Isolated World."

Of the five films, the most popular of the Palme d'Or was Kieślowski's "Murder Short". Prior to this, the film had already won the FIPRESCI Award in the main competition, an award given by the International Association of Film Critics that is completely independent of the festival organizers, acting like a weather vane.

As for "Vulgar", among the six awards of the Palme d'Or, the Grand Jury Prize, the Jury Prize, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director, it is generally believed that the Palme d'Or is unlikely, and the acting award is even more useless, and it is unlikely that the jury will give the best director to a young man like Simon, who is only 20 years old.

The final result will most likely be either the Grand Jury Prize or the Jury Prize.

It was nearly seven o'clock in the afternoon.

Outside the Palais du Cinémath on the Cannes waterfront, the closing ceremony was much more deserted than the star-studded opening ceremony.

The crew of "Vulgar" received a notice of retention yesterday, and John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, and Nicole Kidman, who had already left Cannes, flew over from the United States again. Others, such as Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Madonna and Sean Penn, did not attend the closing ceremony for various reasons.

Speaking of which, this fundamental purpose is still for the purpose of the movie's promotional trip, Orion will definitely have to bear the cost, and Simon's private jet bill will also be sent to Orion in the future. Of course, the hilltop mansion in the Lecane district is not something Orion can afford.

Simon and his entourage rushed outside the Palais du Cinémath, where the red carpet ceremony of the closing ceremony was nearing its end, and everyone quickly entered the Rubière Hall in the Palais du Cinémath through the media passage.

Perhaps the organizers deliberately arranged that the seats of the crew of "Vulgar" are adjacent to the crew of "Gathering the Storm", and this special effects film led by Lucasfilm will be the closing film of this film festival.

It's just that Simon didn't see George Lucas, only the director of "The Storm" Ron Howard and the heroes and actresses Fang Kilmer and Jonny Wiley attended the closing ceremony awards ceremony.

After the opening of last Friday, due to word-of-mouth failure, "Gathering Storm" only received $8.3 million at the box office in the first three days of the weekend, far below the producer's expectations. The film can only be expected to be released through various channels to recover the expensive production and publicity costs.

Simon has actually been paying attention to "The Storm", and such a film that uses the most advanced special effects technology of this era can provide a lot of reference for him to make "Batman".

Moreover, Ron Howard, a director of commercial films who is a notch lower than Spielberg but very diverse, is also very interesting to Simon. The two chatted for a while in the short leisure time before the ceremony, and also exchanged business cards.

Seven o'clock in the evening.

The closing ceremony of the 41st Cannes Film Festival officially began.

The host is still Matilda May at the opening ceremony, and the atmosphere of the awards ceremony is as meticulous as it was at the opening ceremony.

After Matilda May's speech-filled speech, the guests took the stage to present the 'Technical Award', yes, the name of the award is the Technical-Grand-Prize, which is one of the few technical awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

There are no envelopes and trophies for this marginal technical award, only a certificate, and Simon's heart can't help but lift a little while waiting for the actress named Jane Birkin on stage to announce the results.

If "Vulgar" wins such an award, the joke will be a bit big. This kind of technical award is actually equivalent to a consolation prize, tell the creator in advance that there will be nothing for you to do next.

Fortunately.

Jane Birkin was quick to announce the results, and Clint Eastwood's "Rookie Parker" was lucky enough to win the award, which was actually expected by many. Watching the old cowboy force a smile on his face, Simon did not hesitate to applaud vigorously with the crowd.

After the award of several awards such as the Golden Camera and the Best Short Film, after a song and dance performance, Matilda May began to introduce the judges of the main competition unit to the stage, and many people in the hall also raised their spirits, because the next will be the most important six awards in the main competition unit.

The judges took their seats on stage, and the first announcement was the best actress, and this time the best actress award turned out to be a rare 'three yolks', and the three heroines in Chris Mengus's "Isolated World" shared the honor.

The Best Actor award went to Black star Forest Whitaker in "Rookie Parker", and Simon remembers that he was one of the few black Oscar winners for Best Actor. It's just that Forest Whitaker has never had a strong presence in Hollywood, and although his acting skills are very good, he can only play some inconspicuous supporting roles in most cases.

The organizers of Cannes obviously did not have the idea of permutating and combining the awards to control the rhythm, and after the award of the best actor and actress, the best director was immediately awarded. After Argentine director Fernando Solanas won this award for "South", only the most crucial three awards of the Palme d'Or, the Grand Jury Prize and the Jury Prize were left for this ceremony.

Among the five retained works in the main competition unit, "Rookie Parker" and "South" have all been passed, and the last three awards are destined to only go to "Vulgar", "Murder Short" and "Isolated World".

The Jury Prize was presented to the renowned French director Louis Mahler.

Looking at the old man on the stage slowly introducing the awards, Simon felt a small hand reach over and press the back of his hand, so he grabbed the woman's small hand with his back palm and shook it, and asked Janet next to him in a low voice, "It can't be this, right?"

Janet blinked in confusion, then shook her head, "I really don't know, Natasha didn't tell me." ”

Kieślowski and Chris Mengus are both well-known in terms of seniority, and "Murder Short" and "Isolated World" are good enough, and it makes perfect sense that "Vulgar" will be awarded the final jury prize.

On stage, Louis Mahler finally opened the envelope, glanced down, and read out the result in the expectant gaze of everyone: "The winner of the Jury Prize is "Murder Short Film", congratulations!"

Whoa, whoa, whoa—

In the applause from the audience, Simon clearly felt that many pairs of eyes around him were looking over.

From the very beginning, Kieślowski's "Murder Short" has been the most popular work of the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, not only receiving the highest media rating of 4.6, but also winning the FIPRESCI Award, which is the main competition unit of the vane.

Right now.

Cannes awarded the last of the three awards to the Murder Short Film, and Kieślowski was clearly out of the way to the Palme d'Or.

As for "The Isolated World", this film about the past of the apartheid struggle in South Africa has been able to break through to the present, and it is more of an aura of absolute political correctness of the subject matter.

Although the director of the film, Chris Mengus, is a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Cinematography, "The Isolated World" is only his first directing film, and the film is completely incomparable to "Vulgar" in other aspects.

However.

The Cannes Film Festival is the least conceptual than Berlin and Venice.

After Kieślowski's acceptance speech, French César Medal actress Sandrina Bernell took the stage to present the Grand Jury Prize, and when everyone in the Rubière Hall heard the name of "The Isolated World", there was no suspense about the ending.

Chris Mengus was still on stage, and Simon had already noticed some figures around the hall quietly leaving their seats and hurrying out.

Beside Simon, Janet's face had turned red, and several other people also had obvious joy on their faces. After all, being able to make their mark on a Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or will definitely help them a lot for the rest of their careers.

Even John Travolta, the first-line actor who quickly became popular with "Grease", can finally get rid of his embarrassing position as a youth film actor ten years after becoming famous. The title of 'King of Dance' is no longer appropriate for an actor who is already thirty-four years old and approaching middle age.

The last minute came.

This time, the guests of honour were the presidents of the jury, Ito Scola and Natasha Kinski.

The double yolk egg incident, which slightly worried Simon, did not happen, and after a few pleasantries between the two guests, Ito Scola opened the envelope, and Natasha Kinski read out the result that was already unsuspenseful: "The winner of the Palme d'Or is "Vulgar". ”

Even with the expected outcome, there was a very brief but noticeable hiatus.

And then.

Warm applause rang out.

In his previous life, he could only be an obscure bystander, watching the glory of others and the cheers of others. At this time, feeling the applause around him, even though he was in the state of mind of two lives and had too many people's experiences in his mind, Simon's body couldn't help but overflow with some excitement.

got up and hugged Janet tightly for a moment, and then hugged and shook hands with Travolta and others and several creators of "Gathering Clouds" respectively, and Simon walked quickly onto the stage amid the unending applause in the hall.

Reaching out to shake Itor Scola and whispering a word of thanks, Simon saw Natasha Kinski next to him with open arms towards him, so he cooperated and hugged the woman.

But.

Natasha Kinski took the opportunity of the veneer gift to Simon's ear and said directly: "Lend me the house." ”

Simon was also very dry, laughing and whispering back: "Don't borrow." ”

Natasha Kinski hugged Simon tighter, changed to the other side and continued to veneer: "Do you want to see me self-destruct in public?"

Simon actually wanted to see it, but considering the consequences of the woman's madness, he still surrendered decisively: "Borrow." ”

Natasha Kinski snorted in satisfaction, and only then did she let go of Simon. The small gestures between the two did not arouse suspicion among others, and even if they did, they basically thought that Natasha Kinski was congratulating Simon.

After being pestered by Natasha Kinski for a short time, Simon came to the microphone, and Simon muttered for a moment before he began to improvise his acceptance speech.